Invasions Are Passe. Social Media Is The New Frontier. Imran Khan And Trump Go Hammer And Tongs Over Terror War

In response to Trump’s remark on Pakistan safeguarding Osama Bin Laden in its territory despite getting billions of dollars in aid from the US, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan took to Twitter to ‘defend’ Pakistan’s actions.

Trump told Fox News in an interview: “Frankly, wouldn’t it have been nice if we got Osama bin Laden a lot sooner than that? Wouldn’t it have been nice? 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 — but living in Pakistan, right next to the military academy. Everybody in Pakistan knew he was there. And we give Pakistan $1.3 billion a year, and they don’t tell him, they don’t tell him for years.”

Between 2002 and 2016, the Pakistani treasury received over $33.4 billion in direct financial payments from the US for economic and security concerns. However, officials in the Western establishment have argued that over 70 per cent of funds given between 2002 and 2010 were diverted by Pakistan to cover its domestic deficit.

It was reported in August 2018 that the Trump administration had cut US aid to Pakistan from $1 billion to $150 million.

In reply, Imran Khan tweeted the following on 19 November 2018:

In the aftermath of 9/11 attacks, which were masterminded by Osama Bin Laden, a study has found that over half a million people were killed by US’s military intervention in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. Also, around 47,000 soldiers and civilians have been killed due to Kashmiri insurgency, which has been sponsored by Pakistan for decades.

In response to Khan’s tweets, Trump replied as follows:

Osama Bin Laden was killed by American troops in a classified mission when they located the dreaded terrorist inside Pakistan. This was undertaken during the presidency of Barack Obama in 2011.

In a final tweet, Khan replied.