ALI HUSSAIN

ISLAMABAD: Foreign minister Khawaja Asif called on Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Monday and discussed the situation with him as the Trump administration has constantly been downplaying Pakistan’s contributions and sacrifices in the war against terrorism.

Sources said that an emergent meeting of the federal cabinet will be held today (Tuesday) in which the cabinet will take stock of the Trump’s remarks and an “appropriate” response is expected to be given to the US. They said that a meeting of the national security committee is also expected to take place and to be attended by both civil and military leadership to deliberate upon the development.

Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan also took to Twitter and reminded the US what Pakistan has done as an ally in the war against terrorism over the past one-and-a-half-decades, but the US reciprocated with nothing except mistrust.

“Pak [Pakistan] as anti-terror ally has given free to US: land & air communication, military bases & intel [intelligence] cooperation that decimated al Qaeda over last 16 yrs, but they have given us nothing but invective & mistrust. They overlook cross-border safe havens of terrorists who murder Pakistanis,” the defense minister tweeted.