The U.S. is suspending security assistance to Pakistan "until the Pakistani government takes decisive action against [terror] groups including the Afghani Taliban and the Haqqani Network," State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said Thursday.

The move comes after President Trump ramped up his criticism of the difficult American ally in a series of tweets earlier in the week, accusing Pakistan of giving the U.S. "nothing but lies & deceit."

The State Department declined to provide a total amount of assistance being suspended-- but this new announcement is in addition to $255 million in foreign military assistance the U.S. suspended on August 31. Those funds -- essentially money that the U.S. provides to Pakistan to purchase American military equipment -- remain suspended, in addition to past years' foreign military assistance that are now suspended as well.

In addition, the Pentagon will suspend further military reimbursements to Pakistan as part of its Coalition Support Fund, a program that reimburses U.S. allies for costs they have incurred in counter terrorism and counter insurgency operations. In fiscal year 2016, that figure totaled $550 million -- although Defense Secretary James Mattis withheld $50 million of that money in July, citing the same difficulties securing Pakistan's cooperation.

The Pentagon’s budget for fiscal year 2017 provides up to $900 million for Pakistan in the Coalition Support Fund, although the final amount depends on how much Pakistan requests, according to Pentagon spokesperson Cmdr. Pat Evans.

So, in addition to the $255 million already suspended, the total amount of U.S. aid that could be frozen could top $1 billion.

ABC News first reported the decision had been made on Wednesday, after State Department officials called members of Congress to brief them of the decision.

But to critics, the announcement seemed to come quickly on the heels of the president's pronouncement Monday on Twitter where he charged that Pakistan has taken "more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years" and in return provided "safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help."

Pakistan is a key partner in the fight against terrorism, but the U.S. has also accused it of supporting and providing safe haven to terror groups like the Haqqani Network, an independent division of the Taliban responsible for multiple attacks in neighboring Afghanistan over the years.

"No more!" Trump vowed on Monday.

But senior State Department officials deny that the announcement was done quickly to make policy out of the president's tweet.

"It had always been our intention to evaluate on an ongoing basis Pakistan's responsiveness to our request for support of the South Asia strategy and as we evaluated, if we felt that Pakistan was not addressing the request that we had made, that we would take further actions to put pressure on Pakistan or to underscore our dissatisfaction with their lack of responsiveness," one senior official told reporters.

In real terms, the decision means that the U.S. will now not deliver military equipment or transfer security-related funds, unless required by law or if deemed in U.S. national security interests, Nauert said during the State Department's briefing Thursday. But she and two senior State Department officials stressed that the suspensions were not permanent -- with the possibility of Pakistan earning the funds back if it takes steps to show cooperation.

The State Department declined to say whether anyone in the administration called the Pakistani government to tell them this news, citing "private diplomatic conversations" -- but one senior official said Pakistan was briefed "in general terms," adding later, "When we talk to Pakistan, we will provide the information they need to be able to evaluate this."

But it is "something that should not come as a surprise to Pakistan," Nauert also said, because President Trump, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and Secretary Mattis have all had conversations with Pakistani leadership about this concern -- and because Trump laid it out in his South Asia strategy speech on August 21.

"We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting, but that will have to change, and that will change immediately," Trump said at the time.

Two months later, however, Trump praised Pakistan with a tweet, writing, "Starting to develop a much better relationship with Pakistan and its leaders. I want to thank them for their cooperation on many fronts." The message came on the heels of Pakistani security forces helping secure the release of American Caitlan Coleman, her Canadian husband Joshua Boyle, and their three children from Taliban captivity.

When asked by ABC News Thursday what changed, Nauert said, "I don't know that anything necessarily changed," just that Pakistan must do more.

One senior State Department official was slightly more pointed: "They have not made decisive action on our requests, so the decision was made to take this step as one step to indicate that we cannot continue business as usual with the Pakistani government if they're not going to be a partner with us."

The danger in Thursday's move is that instead of incentivizing Pakistan to better cooperate, it could further alienate the unsteady ally and push them into the arms of a neighbor like China, which has growing financial and diplomatic ties to Pakistan.

"Both countries are committed to this relationship, and we're doing our best -- both countries are doing our best to try to move the relationship forward and put it on more positive footing," the senior official said, arguing that China and Pakistan's "relationship has never come at the expense of U.S.-Pakistan relations." In particular, the official cited the U.S.'s superior military capabilities that it can sell to Pakistan -- sales it is now suspending.

--ABC News' Elizabeth McLaughlin contributed to this report</s>U.S. Suspends Most Security Assistance To Pakistan

After a harshly worded New Year's Day tweet by President Trump accusing Pakistan of "deceit" and of harboring terrorists, State Department spokeswomon Heather Nauert confirmed Thursday that the U.S. will suspend most security assistance to Islamabad.

The cutoff is not permanent, Nauert said, and only affects military assistance. Civilian assistance is not affected.

Nauert told reporters that the suspension will remain in effect until Pakistan "takes decisive action" against groups, such as the Taliban, that are "destabilizing the region and targeting U.S. personnel." Although Pakistan "certainly has been helpful in some instances," she said, "they are not taking steps they need to take to fight terrorists."

The aid suspension will include equipment and the transfer of security-related funds, with possible exceptions for U.S. national security reasons.

Nauert was not immediately able to provide a total dollar amount for the cutoff. "We are still working through the numbers," she said.

In his first tweet of 2018, Trump said the U.S. "has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!"

Ahead of Nauert's remarks, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor told a Pakistani news channel on Wednesday that Pakistan would continue to cooperate with the U.S. but would not "compromise on national interests and prestige."

"Aid cuts will not hurt us," Pakistan's finance ministry head Miftah Ismail told Reuters.

There have been hints of a Pakistan aid cut by the Trump administration for months.

Back in August, when announcing his new policy on Afghanistan and South Asia, the president said: "We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting. But that will have to change, and that will change immediately." He vowed to "no longer be silent about Pakistan's safe havens for terrorist organizations, the Taliban, and other groups that pose a threat to the region and beyond."

Later that month, the administration notified Pakistan that it was delaying a payment of $255 million in military aid, pending progress against Haqqani network militants who the U.S. says are based in Pakistan and aid the Taliban.

The military aid, known as foreign military financing, "promotes the development of Pakistan's long-term [counter-insurgency/counter-terrorism] capabilities and improves Pakistan's ability to participate in maritime security operations and counter-maritime piracy," according to the State Department.

The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told reporters Tuesday that the U.S. would withhold the $255 million payment, saying, "Pakistan has played a double game for years." That $255 million is included in the suspended aid announced Thursday by Nauert.

This is not the first time the U.S. has cut assistance to Pakistan. In the 1990s, Washington imposed aid-cutting sanctions related to Pakistan's nuclear program and a military coup that deposed an elected prime minister.

The George W. Bush administration waived those sanctions and reinstated aid following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but reduced it in 2008. During President Barack Obama's first term in office, aid levels rose again but then dropped drastically after the 2011 U.S. raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that killed Osama bin Laden.

Since 2002, U.S. aid to Pakistan has totaled nearly $34 billion but declined in recent years, according to the Congressional Research Service. The country received more than $1 billion in U.S. assistance in 2016.

Relations between Pakistan and the U.S. long have been strained, and tensions have only grown since the summer, when the Trump administration announced its policy on Afghanistan and South Asia.

Pakistan, which serves as a key transport route for supplies to U.S. forces in Afghanistan, denies harboring terrorists. Officials say the country has made enormous sacrifices to support the U.S. war on terror.

"We have contributed and sacrificed the most in fighting international terrorism and carried out the largest counterterrorism operation anywhere in the world," Pakistan's U.N. Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi said Wednesday. "We can review our cooperation if it is not appreciated."

"You carried out 57,800 attacks on Afghanistan from our bases, your forces were supplied arms and explosives through our soil, thousands of our civilians and soldiers became victims of the war initiated by you," Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif tweeted in Urdu on Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, the State Department on Thursday also placed Pakistan on a "special watch list for severe violations of religious freedom," Nauert said in a statement. Conditions for the country's religious minorities, including Hindus, Christians and Ahmadis, are widely considered poor.</s>The US has said that it has suspended all security assistance to Pakistan until Islamabad takes “decisive action” against terror groups, including the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network, which according to Washington is destabilising the region. The suspension would allow the Trump administration, which will freeze the aid payments but not allocate the money elsewhere, to reassess in the coming year, State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters. She said the US is still working on the dollar figures. “Today, we can confirm that we are suspending national security — or, excuse me — we are suspending security assistance only to Pakistan at this time,” she said. Nauert said, Pakistan could receive the funding, if it takes decisive action against terrorism. “Until the Pakistani government takes decisive action against terror groups, including the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network — we consider them to be destabilising the region and also targeting US personnel — the US will suspend that kind of security assistance to Pakistan,” Nauert said. “It has been more than four months since the president’s speech, and despite a sustained high-level engagement by this administration with the government of Pakistan, the Taliban and the Haqqani Network continue to find sanctuary inside Pakistan as they plot to destabilise Afghanistan and also attack US and allied personnel,” Nauert said. “Pakistan has greatly suffered from terrorism, and the security services have been effective in combating the groups that target Pakistani interests, such as Al-Qaeda, ISIS and the Pakistani Taliban. We have now worked closely with Pakistan against these groups,” she said.

“Now, just as we have made Pakistan’s enemies our own, we need Pakistan to deny safe haven to or lawfully detain those terrorists and militants who threaten US interests,” she added. The State Department spokesperson said, the US stands ready to work with Pakistan in combating all terrorists, without distinction, and hope to be able to renew and deepen the bilateral security relationship when Pakistan demonstrates its willingness to aggressively confront the Afghan Taliban, the Haqqani Network, and other terrorists and militant groups that operate from within its country. “So we will not be delivering military equipment or transfer security-related funds to Pakistan unless it is required by law. I think that part answers your questions. There may be some exemptions that are made on a case-by-case basis, if they’re determined to be critical to national security interests,” Nauert told reporters. She said that the US had a series of discussions with Pakistan about terrorism, and had asked the country the need to take more decisive action against terror groups. This is something that should not come as a surprise to Pakistan, she said. “Because the President, Secretary Tillerson and Secretary Mattis have all had conversations with Pakistani officials, alerting them to our concerns that Pakistan has not done enough to detain, to take care of – and when I say take care of, I mean round up – terrorist and militant groups operating from within Pakistan,” the State Department spokesperson said. President Donald Trump in an angry tweet on the New Year day had accused Pakistan of giving nothing to the US but “lies and deceit” and providing “safe haven” to terrorists in return for USD 33 billion aid over the last 15 years. Soon after the president’s tweet, the White House had confirmed that the US had suspended its USD 255 million military aid to Pakistan.</s>"We can confirm that we are suspending security assistance to Pakistan at this time," said Heather Nauert, spokeswoman for the US State Department.

"The United States will not deliver military equipment or provide security assistance to Pakistan unless required by law," the spokeswoman added. Until the Pakistani government proves without a doubt decisive action has been taken against terrorist groups in Pakistan, the official said, Washington will consider Pakistan to be "destabilizing the region and also targeting US personnel."

There may be some exceptions to the new policy, however, the State Department said, without clarifying what particular funds or military equipment might be excluded from the policy.

Earlier in the week, Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the United Nations, announced that the US would cut funding to Pakistan by $255 million. "Pakistan has played a double game for years," Haley told reporters in New York on Tuesday. "They work with us at times, and they also harbor the terrorists who attack our troops in Afghanistan," the ambassador noted. "That game is not acceptable to this administration."

A US official said Thursday that in fact more than $255 million in aid would be suspended.

The policy change follows several tweets from US President Donald Trump blasting Pakistan.

In late August, Trump delivered remarks laying out the administration's strategy in South Asia. "The next pillar of our strategy is to change the approach and how to deal with Pakistan. We can no longer be silent about Pakistan's safe havens for terrorist organizations, the Taliban, and other groups that pose a threat to the region and beyond. Pakistan has much to gain from partnering with our effort in Afghanistan. It has much to lose by continuing to harbor criminals and terrorists," Trump stated.

Pakistan has been a "valued partner" in the past, the US leader said, "but Pakistan has also sheltered the same organizations that try every single day to kill our people. We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same they are housing the very terrorists we are fighting."

Last October, Trump claimed US-Pakistani relations showed signs of improvement, but the new policy change would seem to be evidence those ties have deteriorated.</s>WASHINGTON -- The United States announced Thursday it was suspending security assistance to Pakistan for failing to take "decisive action" against Taliban militants targeting U.S. personnel in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The State Department's declaration signalled growing frustration over Pakistan's co-operation in fighting terrorist networks, but it was not immediately clear how much money and materiel was being withheld. The vague details suggested the primary goal was to substantiate U.S. President Donald Trump's surprising New Year's Day tweet that accused Pakistan of playing U.S. leaders for "fools."

Spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the restrictions covered security assistance above and beyond the $255 million for Pakistani purchases of American military equipment that the administration held up in August.

Nauert said details were still being worked out on the additional funds, and referred questions to the Defence Department. Earlier Thursday, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said the policy on military aid was "still being formulated."

Nauert made clear the $255 million was still blocked. The new action targets payments of so-called Coalition Support Funds that the U.S. pays to Pakistan to reimburse it for its counterterrorism operations. Those funds are typically paid later in the year, and already require U.S. certification, so the effect of Thursday's announcement was unclear.

On Monday, Trump said the U.S. had "foolishly" given Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid in the last 15 years and had gotten nothing in return but "lies & deceit." He reiterated longstanding allegations that Pakistan gives "safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan."

Trump unveiled in August a South Asia strategy aimed at ending the stalemate in the U.S. war in Afghanistan, now entering its 17th year. Nauert said that despite sustained high-level engagement with Pakistan's government, "the Taliban and Haqqani network continue to find sanctuary inside Pakistan as they plot to destabilize Afghanistan and attack U.S. and allied personnel." She told reporters that until Pakistan takes "decisive action" against those groups, security assistance was suspended.

Civilian development and economic assistance to Pakistan is not affected.

Also Thursday, the State Department accused Pakistan of severe violations of religious freedom. It announced that it was placing Pakistan on a special watch list, pursuant to 2016 legislation. The step does not carry any serious consequences.

Pakistan's embassy in Washington and mission at the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

But on Tuesday, Pakistan called Trump's tweet "completely incomprehensible" and at odds with recent "trust-building" visits by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Mattis. It accused the U.S. of scapegoating Pakistan for its own failure to bring peace to Afghanistan.

The haphazard nature of Thursday's announcement suggested it had been hastily arranged rather than developed through a traditional policy process. Even after members of Congress had been notified of an impending aid suspension, White House and State Department officials were still hammering out details for who would announce it and when.

As recently as October, Trump credited U.S.-Pakistani co-operation for winning the release of an American woman, her Canadian husband and their children who had been held by Haqqani militants for five years.

U.S. assistance to Pakistan, which rose sharply after the 9-11 attacks, has been declining since 2011 when American commandos killed Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan, straining relations. Pakistan has increasingly turned for economic support to northern neighbour China, which is investing tens of billions in transportation links and power generation as it extends its strategic footprint across Asia.

Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Wilson Center's South Asia program, said suspension of U.S. security assistance to Pakistan would not torpedo relations but it was a significant step backward. He said Pakistan could fall back on Saudi Arabia and China for military supplies, but it still depends on the U.S. for certain types of high-end equipment.

"There are considerable risks for the U.S. because Pakistan could retaliate in ways that would be very problematic for U.S. regional interests," he said, such as curtailing intelligence co-operation and U.S. supply lines into Afghanistan.

"No matter what, the relationship is in a bad spot right now."

Associated Press writers Josh Lederman and Zeke Miller contributed to this report.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on restrictions on U.S. security assistance to Pakistan (all times local):

The Trump administration says it is suspending security assistance to the Pakistani military until it takes "decisive action" against the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani network that are targeting U.S. personnel in Afghanistan.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert did not say Thursday how much assistance was being suspended. She said details were still being worked out.

The administration is already holding up $255 million in assistance which is used by Pakistan to buy U.S. military equipment until it cracks down on extremists threatening Afghanistan.

Nauert said the latest measure would also suspend other security assistance, but did not specify what that covered, saying it was administered by the Defense Department.

Earlier Thursday, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Thursday the policy on military aid is "still being formulated."

The Trump administration has accused Pakistan of severe violations of religious freedom in a further sign of deteriorating relations.

The State Department announced Thursday that it's placing the South Asian nation on a special watch list. The step does not carry any serious consequences, but it comes in the wake of stiff criticism from President Donald Trump this week.

On Monday, Trump reiterated U.S. concerns that Pakistan provides safe havens for militants, saying it had played U.S. leaders for "fools." The administration is currently holding up $255 million in military assistance for Pakistan until it cracks down on extremists threatening Afghanistan.

The State Department did not elaborate on reasons for Pakistan's inclusion on the watch list. Pakistan's embassy in Washington and mission at the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has announced it is suspending security assistance to Pakistan for failing to take “decisive action” against Taliban militants targeting U.S. personnel in neighboring Afghanistan.

The State Department’s declaration Thursday signaled growing frustration over Pakistan’s level of cooperation in fighting terrorist networks. Initially vague information on how much money and materiel was being withheld suggested the primary goal was to substantiate President Donald Trump’s surprising New Year’s Day tweet that accused Pakistan of playing U.S. leaders for “fools.”

Spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the restrictions covered security assistance above and beyond the $255 million for Pakistani purchases of American military equipment that the administration held up in August.

Nauert made clear the $255 million was still blocked, and the Pentagon said the new action targets payments of so-called Coalition Support Funds that the U.S. pays to Pakistan to reimburse it for its counterterrorism operations.

Defense spending legislation for 2017 provides for up to $900 million in Coalition Support Funds, of which $400 million can only be released to Pakistan if Defense Secretary Jim Mattis certifies Pakistan has taken specific actions against the Haqqani network. None of the $900 million as so far been disbursed, the Pentagon said. The last Coalition Support Funds were paid to Pakistan in March last year, provided under defense spending legislation for 2016.

On Monday, Trump said the U.S. had “foolishly” given Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid in the last 15 years and had gotten nothing in return but “lies & deceit.” He reiterated longstanding allegations that Pakistan gives “safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan.”

Trump unveiled in August a South Asia strategy aimed at ending the stalemate in the U.S. war in Afghanistan, now entering its 17th year. Nauert said that despite sustained high-level engagement with Pakistan’s government, “the Taliban and Haqqani network continue to find sanctuary inside Pakistan as they plot to destabilize Afghanistan and attack U.S. and allied personnel.” She told reporters that until Pakistan takes “decisive action” against those groups, security assistance was suspended.

Civilian development and economic assistance to Pakistan is not affected.

Also Thursday, the State Department accused Pakistan of severe violations of religious freedom. It announced that it was placing Pakistan on a special watch list, pursuant to 2016 legislation. The step does not carry any serious consequences.

Pakistan’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

But on Tuesday, Pakistan called Trump’s tweet “completely incomprehensible” and at odds with recent “trust-building” visits by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Mattis. It accused the U.S. of scapegoating Pakistan for its own failure to bring peace to Afghanistan.

A senior Pakistani senator expressed disappointment at the U.S. decision to suspend military aid to Islamabad, saying it will be detrimental to Pakistani-U.S. relations.

Nuzhat Sadiq, chairwoman of the Senate Foreign Affairs committee in the upper house of parliament, says Islamabad can manage without the United States as it did in the 1990s, but would prefer to move the troubled relationship forward. Sadiq said on Friday that “what the U.S. is doing now is not good for its policy against terrorism and for a lasting peace in this region.”

She said that Pakistan has always “played a vital role in the war on terror.”

The haphazard nature of Thursday’s announcement suggested it had been hastily arranged rather than developed through a traditional policy process. Even after members of Congress had been notified of an impending aid suspension, White House and State Department officials were still hammering out details for who would announce it and when. Earlier Thursday, Mattis said the policy on military aid to Pakistan was “still being formulated.”

As recently as October, Trump credited U.S.-Pakistani cooperation for winning the release of an American woman, her Canadian husband and their children who had been held by Haqqani militants for five years.

U.S. assistance to Pakistan, which rose sharply after the 9/11 attacks, has been declining since 2011 when American commandos killed Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan, straining relations. Pakistan has increasingly turned for economic support to northern neighbor China, which is investing tens of billions in transportation links and power generation as it extends its strategic footprint across Asia.

Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Wilson Center’s South Asia program, said suspension of U.S. security assistance to Pakistan would not torpedo relations but it was a significant step backward. He said Pakistan could fall back on Saudi Arabia and China for military supplies, but it still depends on the U.S. for certain types of high-end equipment.

“There are considerable risks for the U.S. because Pakistan could retaliate in ways that would be very problematic for U.S. regional interests,” he said, such as curtailing intelligence cooperation and U.S. supply lines into Afghanistan.

“No matter what, the relationship is in a bad spot right now.”
• Download the WISH-TV app for your iPhone/iPad in the App Store
• Download the WISH-TV app in the Google Play store</s>"We will not be delivering military equipment or transfer security related funds to Pakistan unless it is required by law," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters.

The value of the assistance is still being determined, Nauert said. A senior State Department official who briefed reporters after the announcement said it will encompass $255 million in foreign military financing from the 2016 fiscal year, which had not yet been disbursed and which the administration previously announced it would be withholding, as well as coalition support funds and other unspent money from previous fiscal years.

"We're still working through the details of exactly what's going to be captured there," said the official.

Historically, the United States has provided Pakistan over $1 billion in security assistance annually. Some of that money has already been paid out or withheld for the 2016 fiscal year, but the amount withheld could potentially top $1 billion.

The Trump and Obama administrations had previously withheld $350 million in FY2016 coalition support funds due to similar concerns about Pakistan's failure to go after Taliban and Haqqani fighters. Cmdr. Patrick Evans, a spokesman for the Pentagon, told CNN the announced freeze also applied to coalition support funds for fiscal year 2017, which amount to $900 million. "Security assistance funding and pending deliveries will be frozen but not canceled, as we continue to hope Pakistan will take the decisive action against terrorist and militant groups that we seek," Evans told CNN. The US does not plan to suspend any civilian assistance to Pakistan, the State official said, and will make exemptions for some security funding "on a case-by-case basis." All of that money could be provided to the Pakistani government in the future if it takes certain "specific and concrete steps" relayed to it by the administration, the official noted, telling reporters the administration wants Pakistan to see the decision "as an incentive, not a punishment." "The United States stands ready to work with Pakistan in combating all terrorists without distinction," Nauert said at the agency's news briefing, "and we hope to be able to renew and deepen our bilateral security relationship when Pakistan demonstrates its willingness to aggressively confront the Afghan Taliban, the Haqqani network and other terrorist and militant groups that operate from within its country." The move should not come as a surprise to Pakistani leaders, Nauert said, adding that the assistance could be made available to Pakistan in the future if it takes certain steps to deny terrorists a haven and more aggressively confront groups "who threaten US interests." In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta questioned the decision, saying it risks pushing Pakistan toward a closer relationship with China and Russia -- US adversaries that have been strengthening their economic ties with the Pakistani government in recent years. The announcement is the latest in a string of actions and sharp statements by US officials targeting Pakistan. President Donald Trump rang in the new year on Monday morning with a pointed tweet, accusing the government of "lies & deceit." The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2018 The next day, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley addressed reporters and accused Pakistan of playing "a double game for years" in its counterterrorism cooperation with the United States. "They work with us at times, and they also harbor the terrorists that attack our troops in Afghanistan," Haley said. "That game is not acceptable to this administration." In August, the Trump administration unveiled its South Asia strategy, aimed at turning the tide in Afghanistan, where the US has been engaged in a protracted 17-year war. Speaking at the time , Trump accused Pakistan of giving "safe haven to agents of chaos, violence, and terror," and said the time had come "for Pakistan to demonstrate its commitment to civilization, order, and to peace." "It's been more than four months since the President's speech," Nauert said at the State Department Tuesday. "And despite a sustained high-level engagement by this administration with the government of Pakistan, the Taliban and the Haqqani network continue to find sanctuary inside Pakistan as they plot to destabilize Afghanistan, and also attack US and allied personnel." Earlier Tuesday, the State Department announced that it had placed Pakistan on a special watch list "for severe violations of religious freedom," as part of its obligations under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 -- action that was unrelated to the decision on security assistance.</s>WASHINGTON: The United States on Friday announced that it is suspending the transfer of military equipment and security-related funds to Pakistan.

"Today we can confirm that we are suspending security assistance only to Pakistan at this time," State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert announced at a press briefing.

The spokesperson added that Pakistan could receive the suspended funding if it takes decisive actions against Haqqani Network and Afghan Taliban.

Nauert said she could not provide a dollar value for the suspended aid because the administration was still calculating the types of aid affected by the decision.



The suspension of security assistance to Islamabad comes after Washington accused Pakistan of playing a “double game” on fighting terrorism and warned Islamabad it would have to do more if it wanted to maintain US aid.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Tuesday that Washington would withhold $255 million in assistance to Pakistan.

Haley's statement followed an angry tweet from Trump that the US had been rewarded with “nothing but lies and deceit” for giving Pakistan billions in aid.

Nauert said the suspension of security assistance was in addition to the earlier announced suspension of $255 million aid.

The State Department also placed Pakistan on a Special Watch List for what it claims are "severe violations of religious freedom".

In a press statement on Thursday, the State Department said it has also re-designated 10 countries as "countries of particular concern" under the country's International Religious Freedom Act for having engaged in or tolerated egregious violations of religious freedom.

'No amount of coercion can dictate us'

No amount of compulsion can pressurise Pakistan on how to continue, Major General Asif Ghafoor — the Director-General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) — said while speaking Wednesday night (Pakistan time) on Geo News' programme Capital Talk about the recent strategic developments.

The military spokesperson was responding to the US withholding aid worth $255 million to Pakistan following Trump’s tweet, wherein the latter said the US had foolishly given Pakistan more than $33 billion in financial assistance over the past 15 years.



"No amount of coercion can dictate us how to continue," he said. "We wish to move forward through cooperative engagement but will not compromise on self-respect and dignity."

"Pakistan had made alternate arrangements in advance," the spokesperson said, adding that the US' decision to stop aid would not affect the nation's financial requirements.</s>Spokeswoman Heather Nauert was unable to put a dollar sum on the funds that will be frozen, but said it was in addition to the $255 million in military aid it has already put on hold.

“Today we can confirm that we are suspending security assistance to Pakistan at this time,” Nauert said.

“Until the Pakistani government takes decisive action against the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani group — we consider them to be a destabilizing the region and targeting US personnel — the United States will suspend that type of security assistance to Pakistan.”

The decision on security assistance came after US President Donald Trump lashed out at Pakistan in a New Year tweet, accusing the longstanding American ally of using “lies and deceit” to win US aid while harboring terrorists.
The U.S. State Department suspends its security assistance to Pakistan.