Pakistan’s foreign ministry has confirmed the suspension of a US military training program for Pakistani soldiers.

Thursday’s announcement by the ministry reflects continued tensions between the two allies in the war on terror.

The training of Pakistani soldiers in the United States is the latest program to be hurt by the cutoff of security aid to Pakistan, which was announced at the beginning of this year.

The United States often accuses Pakistan of harboring militant groups and providing safe havens for insurgents who carry out attacks in neighboring Afghanistan, a charge Islamabad denies and says U.S. criticism is unfair.

Pakistan also repeatedly reminds the United States that it has lost thousands of soldiers — more than the US and NATO combined in Afghanistan — fighting militants on its territory. 

This comes after the United States Congress made a significant cut to the security-oriented financial aid to Pakistan earlier this month. 

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2019 ramped up the military spending and avoided policy changes that would have antagonized US President Donald Trump.

In the latest NDAA, the security aid to Islamabad — that had once started from almost $750 million per year to $1 billion — was marked down to a mere $150 million. However, it also relaxed certain conditions that were attached with the financial assistance, including action against the Haqqani Network and the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), AFP said in a report on August 3.

This crucial reduction translates into the fact that the Pentagon might not have any tools to pressurize Pakistan into taking action against the banned militant outfits. The US had earlier used these funds to ask Islamabad to do more with regard to the counter-terrorism operations, especially against the Haqqani Network.