NEW YORK: The United States failed to behave as an ally and turned Pakistaninto a ‘whipping boy’ for its own shortcomings in Afghanistan, ForeignMinister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said, after the Trump administrationsuspended aid to the country.

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

The US said Thursday that security assistance to Islamabad was on holduntil the Pakistani government took ‘decisive action’ against terror groupson its territory, including the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network.The announcement followed a tweet from President Donald Trump earlier thisweek alleging that Pakistan gives ‘safe haven to the terrorists we hunt inAfghanistan.’ Pakistan denied his claim and has long decried similarallegations.

Khwaja Asif said Pakistan’s recent counter-terrorism operations includingthose in the tribal areas that border Afghanistan has cleared the countryof both the organized presence of militants and areas where they might seeksanctuary as peace returns.

But Taliban fighters still slip through and meld into its large Afghanrefugee population, he said. There are 1.4 million such refugees currentlyliving in Pakistan, according to the United Nations.

“We have relative calm in Pakistan at the moment. But if we go againstthese people [Afghan insurgents], then the war will again be fought on oursoil, which will suit the Americans,” he told WSJ.

Asif added that a lack of cooperation from Washington and Kabul on bothreturning refugees to Afghanistan and fencing the border between the twocountries “raises the suspicion that the intent [to fight terror together]is not sincere.”

There are other countries that could ally with Pakistan, Asif said. Lastyear, he rallied officials from China, Iran, Russia and Turkey behindPakistan’s strategy for Afghanistan, a process centered on peace talks withthe Taliban.

Following Trump’s tweet against Pakistan this week, Chinese foreignministry said it was “ready to promote and deepen” its cooperation withPakistan. “We are not alone,” Asif was quoted as saying.