Pak minister calls US diplomat 'little pygmy' after he advices Imran Khan not to meddle with Afghan peace process

Despite Pakistan efforts to cool down diplomatic tensions in the region after Prime Minister Imran Khan remarks on Afghanistan's politics, Islamabad on Wednesday found itself entrapped in a twitter spat with Washington and Kabul.

This all started with, US ambassador to Afghanistan John R. Bass tweet in which he took a jibe at Imran Khan asking him to not meddle with Afghanistan peace process and its internal affairs.

He wrote: "Some aspects of #cricket apply well in diplomacy, some do not. @ImranKhanPTI, important to resist the temptation to ball-tamper with the #Afghanistan peace process and its internal affairs. #AfgPeace"

Some aspects of #cricket apply well in diplomacy, some do not. @ImranKhanPTI, important to resist temptation to ball-tamper with the #Afghanistan peace process and its internal affairs. #AfgPeace

-- John R. Bass (@USAmbKabul) March 27, 2019

To this, Pakistan's ministers retaliated fast, Shireen Mazari, Human Right minister in Imran Khan's Cabinet, denounced John R Bass remarks.

"Clearly you little pygmy your knowledge of ball tampering is as void as your understanding of Afganistan and the region! Clearly in your case ignorance is certainly not bliss! Another sign of Trumpian mischief a la Khalilzad style," she tweeted.

However, she later deleted the tweet after several twitterati accused her of racism. Replying to Shireen Mazari tweet, Afghanistan interior minister Amrullah Saleh attacked Pakistan for surviving on the bailout of IMF and US help. He also thanked Bass for his remarks.

"A tweet from a Minister of a nuclear state department on IMF loans and recipient of 30 billion dollars aid from the US in the last decade along. Excellence @USAmKabul you have expressed the voice of 35 million Afghanistani who are your proud hosts," tweeted Amrullah Saleh while referring to Shireen Mazari.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Asad Umar also accused Bass of not knowing diplomacy. "Your tweet shows you understand neither cricket nor diplomacy. With the Afghan peace process at such a critical juncture hope the US will be able to find better diplomatic skills to deal with the delicate issues at hand," he wrote on his twitter handle.

Khan recently remarked that an interim government should be put in place in Afghanistan to facilitate peace talks with the Taliban as the current government creates "obstruction". Khan's remarks were met with strong criticism across political lines in Afghanistan.

Days later, Pakistan's Foreign Office said that Prime Minister Imran Khan's comments regarding Afghanistan were reported out of context in the media.

Slamming Khan's remarks, Afghanistan's former national security advisor Mohammad Haneef Atmar said: "Recent statement by Pakistani Prime Minister is interference in Afghanistan's internal affairs. The Afghan government derives its legitimacy from the Afghan people, but not from the leaders of regional countries who strive to meddle in our internal affairs and decide on the future of our government and our politics."