Donald Trump's tirade against Pakistan a lesson for leaders who appeased US, says minister Shireen Mazari

Islamabad: Pakistan’s Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari on Monday said that US President Donald Trump’s tirade against Islamabad should be a lesson to those Pakistani leaders who appeased America after 9/11. Mazari’s remarks came a day after Trump defended his administration’s decision to stop hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Pakistan, saying the country does not do “a damn thing” for the US and its government had helped Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden hide near its garrison city. The minister in a series of tweets said that whether China or Iran, US policies of “containment and isolation” do not coincide with Pakistan’s strategic interests.  

“The illegal killings by drone attacks; the list is endless but once again history shows appeasement does not work. Also, whether China or Iran, US policies of containment & isolation do not coincide with Pak strategic interests,” she further tweeted. Referring to Laden and his former compound in Abbottabad, Trump in an interview to Fox News on Sunday said, “You know, living – think of this – living in Pakistan, beautifully in Pakistan in what I guess they considered a nice mansion, I don’t know, I’ve seen nicer.” The compound was demolished shortly after US Naval Special Warfare Development Group forces, in a daring helicopter raid, killed Laden there in 2011. “But living in Pakistan right next to the military academy, everybody in Pakistan knew he was there,” he added. “And we give Pakistan $1.3 billion a year. … (Laden] lived in Pakistan, we’re supporting Pakistan, we’re giving them $1.3 billion a year – which we don’t give them anymore, by the way, I ended it because they don’t do anything for us, they don’t do a damn thing for us,” he said. The ties between the two countries strained after Trump, while announcing his Afghanistan and South Asia policy in August last year, hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to “agents of chaos” that kill Americans in Afghanistan and warned Islamabad that it has “much to lose” by harbouring terrorists. In September, the Trump administration cancelled $300 million in military aid to Islamabad for not doing enough against terror groups active on its soil.