NEW YORK, JAN 06 (DNA) – The United States failed to behave as an ally and turned Pakistan into a ‘whipping boy’ for its own shortcomings in Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said, after the Trump administration suspended aid to the country.

“We do not have any alliance with the United States,” the foreign minister said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Friday. “This is not how allies behave.”

The US said Thursday that security assistance to Islamabad was on hold until the Pakistani government took ‘decisive action’ against terror groups on its territory, including the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network.

The announcement followed a tweet from President Donald Trump earlier this week alleging that Pakistan gives ‘safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan.’ Pakistan denied his claim and has long decried similar allegations.

Khwaja Asif said Pakistan’s recent counter-terrorism operations including those in the tribal areas that border Afghanistan has cleared the country of both the organized presence of militants and areas where they might seek sanctuary as peace returns.=DNA

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