ISLAMABAD: Pakistan civilian and military chiefs on Tuesday rejected "incomprehensible" US comments after President Donald Trump tweeted angrily about Pakistani "lies and deceit", with Islamabad summoning the US ambassador.
David Hale was summoned by the Pakistani foreign office late on Monday to explain Trump's tweet, media said. The ministry could not be reached for comment but the US Embassy in Islamabad confirmed on Tuesday that a meeting had taken place.
Trump said the United States had been rewarded with "nothing but lies and deceit" for "foolishly" giving Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid in the last 15 years.
"They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!" he tweeted on Monday.
His words drew praise from Pakistan's old foe, India, and neighbouring Afghanistan, but long-time ally China defended Pakistan.
The Pakistani foreign minister, Khawaja M. Asif, at first tweeted back that Pakistan would respond in due course. A day later, on Tuesday night, he tweeted that Trump should hire an auditor and "let the world know who is lying and deceiving".
Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday chaired a National Security Committee (NSC) meeting of civilian and military chiefs, focusing on Trump's tweet. The meeting, which lasted nearly three hours, was brought forward by a day and followed an earlier meeting of army generals.
The NSC, in a statement issued by the prime minister's office, did not name Trump but spoke of "deep disappointment" at a slew of critical comments coming from US officials over the past few months.
"Recent statements and articulation by the American leadership were completely incomprehensible as they contradicted facts manifestly, struck with great insensitivity at the trust between two nations built over generations, and negated the decades of sacrifices made by the Pakistani nation," it said.
Relations with Washington have been strained for years over Islamabad's alleged support for Haqqani network militants, who are allied with the Afghan Taliban.
The United States also alleges that senior Afghan Taliban commanders live on Pakistani soil, and has signalled that it will cut aid and take other steps if Islamabad does not stop helping or turning a blind eye to Haqqani militants crossing the border to carry out attacks in Afghanistan.
In 2016, Taliban leader Mullah Mansour was killed by a US drone strike inside Pakistan and in 2011, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was found and killed by US troops in the garrison town of Abbottabad.
Islamabad bristles at the suggestion that it is not doing enough to fight militants, noting that its casualties at the hands of Islamists since 2001 number in the tens of thousands.