The US is withholding $800 million in military aid to Pakistan. White house chief of staff Bill Daley told ABC television that Pakistan had, ‘taken some steps that have given us reason to pause on some of the aid’.

Relations between the US and Pakistan have deteriorated ever since the US killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan earlier this year.

The $800 million dollars is about the third of the annual US security aid to Pakistan. The New York Times has said the move is retaliation against the expulsion of US military trainers. It is also supposed to encourage Pakistan to step up its fight against militants.

The suspension of aid may also be a reaction to American anger that Osama bin Laden was living so comfortably and close to the Pakistani military academy in Pakistan. The US government has found it increasingly difficult to justify funding Pakistan with US tax payer’s money following the bin Laden raid.

The suspension of aid will worry many. The situation in Pakistan has always been extremely delicate and complex. The vast sums the US has paid in aid in the past allows them to have a semblance of control over the situation. It is especially important given Pakistan’s ownership of nuclear weapons. Let’s hope this decision doesn’t come back to haunt us in the future.