Trump in the interview also said he would keep US troops in Afghanistan so they could keep close watch on Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.
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In his comments about Pakistan and Afridi for Fox News, Trump said: “I would tell them let (him) out and I’m sure they would let (him) out”.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan responding strongly to GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump’s remarks on Islamabad said that it was not a colony of the United States.
“Shakil Afridi is a Pakistani citizen and nobody else has the right to dictate to us about his future”, Nisar said in reaction to trump’s remarks. “It was just too much of a coincidence that that house, that unusual-looking house would be built in that community near the military academy, surrounded by retired military professionals, even though, we couldn’t prove it, ” Clinton, who was Secretary of State when the raid took place, said in a CNN interview on the fifth anniversary of bin Laden’s death.
Trump was talking about a potential bid to release a doctor who helped the Central Intelligence Agency track down Osama bin Laden in 2011.
The Minister said that contrary to Mr Trump’s misconception, Pakistan is not a colony of the United States. Khan, however, said Trump’s proposal “serves to show not only his insensitivity, but also his ignorance about Pakistan”. Trump continues to campaign leading up to the IN primary on May 3. Shakil Afridi is a Pakistani doctor, who allegedly helped the USA government in identifying Osama Bin Laden’s hideout in Abbottabad, which led to his eventual killing.
The US Congress, which last week withdrew funds for an F-16 deal to force Pakistan to act against the Haqqani network, is now considering another cut, this time to persuade Islamabad to release Dr Shakil Afridi.
Washington views Afridi as a hero but Pakistan sentenced him in 2012 to 33 years in jail on charges of belonging to militant group Lashkar-e-Islam, which he denies. The sentence was overturned but the doctor is awaiting trial on another charge.
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He said the U.S. continues “to raise this issue at the highest levels” but has been given no firm assurances by Pakistan over Afridi’s release.
