Pakistan's foreign ministry summoned the US embassy's acting representative in Islamabad, Paul Jones, and handed him a strong protest over what she called US President Donald Trump's allegations against Pakistan, which she described as unacceptable.
"The State Department has summoned US Charge d'affaires Ambassador Paul Jones to record its strong protest against the baseless, unfounded allegations directed against Pakistan," the State Department said in a statement.
Trump's remarks - which slammed Pakistan's role in fighting terrorism and the location of Osama bin Laden - and Prime Minister Imran Khan, who responded to Trump on Monday, angered him by saying that few US allies had made Pakistan's sacrifices in the US war on terror.
The row threatens to exacerbate already fragile relations between Islamabad and Washington, allies that have repeatedly disagreed over the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan's alleged support for radical Islamists.
Reactions and demands
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has responded to Trump's comments on Islamabad covering Osama bin Laden despite receiving billions of dollars from Washington.
Khan, in a tweet on Twitter, asked Trump to identify a country that had made more sacrifices than his country in the fight against terrorism, adding that Islamabad would now work only for its own interests and that of its people.
Trump said earlier in the week that Pakistan was "doing nothing" to the United States, despite receiving billions of dollars in US aid. He said Pakistani authorities were aware of the whereabouts of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden before US forces killed him in a raid on Pakistan. In 2011.
Trump wrote a new tweet on Monday that renewed the accusations more severely.
In its response, the Pakistani Ministry said, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, rejecting the implications of talking about Osama bin Laden, the US charge d'affaires said that the cooperation of Pakistani intelligence is the one who provided the preliminary evidence to track the place of Osama bin Laden," adding that " Health about Pakistan is totally unacceptable. "