ISLAMABAD: A senior Pakistani senator expressed disappointment on Friday at the US decision to suspend military aid, saying it will be detrimental to bilateral relations, while the government itself said it was too early to gauge the effects of the decision.

Nuzhat Sadiq, the chairwoman of the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of parliament, said Islamabad can manage without the United States as it did in the 1990s, but would prefer to move the troubled relationship forward.

“What the US is doing now is not good for its policy against terrorism and for a lasting peace in this region,” she said, adding that Pakistan has always “played a vital role in the war on terror.”

The State Department’s declaration on Thursday lambasted Pakistan for failing to take “decisive action” against Taliban militants targeting US personnel in neighboring Afghanistan.

US officials have long complained that Pakistan tolerates or even encourages extremists, charges denied by Islamabad.

Mohammed Amir Rana, director of the independent Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, said that both Pakistan and the United States “need to realistically review their relationship and scale down expectation of each other.”

“Pakistan cannot put all its eggs in the China basket,” he added, referring to the billions of dollars China is investing in Pakistan on a major transportation and power grid.

Rana said the US needs Pakistan if it wants to find a peaceful end to decades of turmoil, and if it wants to navigate the changing circumstances in neighbouring Iran, which has seen anti-government protests in recent days.

Associated Press / AFP