Pakistan Ambassador to United States Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry on Friday said the cooperation between Pakistan and the United States in fighting terrorism has directly served US national security interests.

The envoy was responding to the announcement made by Trump administration on Thursday that it was suspending its entire security assistance to Pakistan until it proves its commitment to fight all terrorist groups operating in the region.

"We are engaged with the US administration on this issue and await further details. It, however, needs to be appreciated that Pakistan has fought the war against terrorism largely from its own resources — which has cost over $120 billion in 15 years,” Chaudhry said.

He was of the view that working towards enduring peace required patience and persistence. “Emergence of new and more deadly groups, such as Daesh in Afghanistan, calls for enhancing international cooperation,” Chaudhry maintained.

“Through a series of major operations, Pakistan cleared all these areas resulting in significant improvement in security in Pakistan. A similar action needs to be taken on the Afghan side which has vast stretches of ungoverned spaces,” said the envoy.

Chaudhry also said, "Diplomacy of deadlines and redlines is counterproductive in meeting such common threats."

Suspension of US assistance will not deter our resolve: ISPR

Suspension of US assistance will impact bilateral security cooperation and regional peace efforts but will not deter our resolve to fight terrorism, said the chief of military’s media wing while talking to Voice of America (VOA).

According to a statement issued by Inter-Services Public Relations, Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said that Pakistan has never fought for money but for peace.

“There are no organised terrorist sanctuaries inside Pakistan,” Ghafoor said.

Casting doubt on our will is not good for our common objective of moving towards enduring peace and stability, the ISPR chief was quoted as saying.

Trump had accused Pakistan of giving the US "nothing but lies and deceit" in a tweet hours after the new year began.