Trump, Citing Pakistan as a ‘Safe Haven’ for Terrorists, Freezes Aid

Protesting President Trump’s Twitter messages about Pakistan in Karachi this week. Mr. Trump said on Monday that the country had “given us nothing but lies & deceit.”CreditAsif Hassan/Agence France-Presse — Getty Image

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced on 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 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 Mr. 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.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 Mr. 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 that it uses to supply roughly 14,000 American troops deployed in neighboring Afghanistan.

After Mr. 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.

The suspension includes about $1.1 billion in Coalition Support Funds, which the Pentagon provides to help defray the costs of counterterrorism operations in Pakistan. Under the freeze, the United States also will not deliver military equipment to the country. It had earlier held up $255 million in State Department military financing.

Ms. Nauert said some exceptions could be made “on a case-by-case basis if determined to be critical to national security interests.” Internal government talking points that were obtained by The New York Times said the suspension was “a freeze, and does not reflect intent to reprogram funds at this time” — meaning that the money will not be diverted to other uses.

“Pakistan has the ability to get this money back in the future, but they have to take decisive action,” Ms. Nauert said.The administration said that the freeze did not apply to civilian assistance programs. The United States has provided Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid since 2002, a program that ramped up sharply in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks as the United States viewed Pakistan as a key ally in fighting Islamic militants.

Earlier on Thursday, the State Department announced that it had placed Pakistan on a special watch list for what it described as severe violations of religious freedoms. The designation was part of the administration’s annual accounting of violations by countries as required by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.

Attacks on religious minorities have increased in Pakistan in recent years, reflecting a growing religious intolerance and driven in part by a proliferation of religious schools funded by Saudi Arabia.

The United States previously has frozen military aid without forcing a change in Pakistan’s policies. In July 2011, two months after an American commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, the Obama administration suspended about $800 million in aid. Relations with Pakistan did not improve, and officials there have come to discount such threats.