US President Donald Trump reportedly humiliated Pakistan by refusing to meet Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. (Reuters)

US President Donald Trump reportedly humiliated Pakistan by refusing to meet Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. The Dawn reports that Trump refused to meet Pakistan PM over the “pretext of being busy”. Trump’s decision has not gone down well with Pakistani leaders, who have termed the US President’s decision as “degrading” to Islamabad. The Pakistan PM is now expected to meet US vice-president Mike Pence on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.

According to Dawn, Pakistan Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani has said that there is no point in Abbasi meeting Pence if Trump has no time to meet the Pakistan PM. He also asserted that the “US approach towards Pakistan is ‘degrading'” reported Dawn. The relationship between Pakistan and the US has soured ever since Trump came to power. In its new Afghanistan policy, the US recently accused Pakistan of “harbouring agents of chaos” and providing safe havens to terrorist”.

In his maiden speech to the UNGA today, Trump took a veiled dig at Pakistan and other terror-supporting countries. He said, “it is time to expose and hold responsible” nations that provide funding and safe havens to terror groups, weeks after he warned Pakistan for supporting “agents of chaos.”

Trump said that all responsible nations must work together to confront terrorists and “the Islamic extremist that inspires them.”

“We will stop radical Islamic terrorism, because we cannot allow it to tear up our nation and, indeed, to tear up the entire world,” he said, adding, “It is time to expose and hold responsible” nations that provide funding and safe havens to terror groups, Trump said without naming any country.

Trump also targeted North Korea, saying the US will be forced to “totally destroy” the country unless Pyongyang backs down from its nuclear challenge. He also mocking North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as a “rocket man” on a suicide mission.

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North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launches and nuclear tests have rattled the world. Unless North Korea backs down, he said, “We will have no choice than to totally destroy North Korea.”

“Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime,” he said. Trump also urged United Nations member states to work together to isolate the Kim government until it ceases its “hostile” behavior.

Stop support to Taliban

During his speech, Trump warned of strong action against countries that support or finance organisations like the Taliban.

“It is time to expose and hold responsible those countries who support and finance terror groups like Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Taliban and the others that slaughter innocent people,” he said. The US President, however, stopped short of naming countries other than Iran unlike in the last month’s speech outlining the Afghan strategy when he named Pakistan saying it had much to lose by harbouring terrorists.

Update: The Dawn reported on 20 September 2017 that Pakistan PM Abbasi met US Vice-President on the sidelines of UNGA on Tuesday. According to the report, both leaders “resolved to remain engaged and carry forward the relationship”.

(First published on September 19, 2017)