U.S. suspends security aid to Pakistan, cites terrorist links

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced Thursday that it would suspend nearly all security aid to Pakistan, an across-the-board freeze that is the most tangible sign yet of Washington’s frustration with the country’s refusal to crack down on terrorist networks operating there.

The decision, which could affect as much as $1.3 billion in annual aid, came three days after President Donald Trump complained on Twitter that Pakistan had “given us nothing but lies & deceit” and accused it of providing “safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan.”

The move underlines how swiftly relations with Pakistan have deteriorated since Trump took office. But it echoes several previous rifts between the countries over Pakistan’s role as a sanctuary for extremist groups — a role that has poisoned Islamabad’s relations with Washington since the terrorist attacks of September 2001.

Administration officials emphasized that the freeze was temporary and could be lifted if Pakistan changed its behavior. The United States is urging the Pakistani government to cut off contact with militants and reassign intelligence agents with links to extremists, among other measures.

U.S. officials also had demanded access to a member of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network, who was captured by Pakistani forces during the rescue of a Canadian-American family in October, and were angered when Pakistan rejected the request.

“It’s hard to argue the status quo has been working, so we are looking at changing it to advance our security objectives,” said Brian H. Hook, the State Department’s director of policy planning.

Heather Nauert, the department’s spokeswoman, said the administration was still working out the precise dollar amounts that would be frozen. Though the move was months in the planning, officials said the announcement was rushed by a few days to catch up to Trump’s Twitter post on Monday, which drew a toxic reaction from Pakistan.

The move also came after considerable internal debate, officials said. The Pentagon is worried that the Pakistani government could retaliate by denying access to routes in Pakistan used to supply roughly 14,000 U.S. troops deployed in neighboring Afghanistan.

After Trump’s tweet, the foreign minister of Pakistan, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, said that there was a need to revisit the nature of its relations with the United States. In an interview with a local news network, he said the United States was acting like neither an ally nor a friend.