“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. 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. 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. 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. 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." “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. "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. 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.
The U.S. State Department suspends its security assistance to Pakistan.