US withdraws Pakistan army aid

The United States has cut off aid to Pakistani army units believed to have killed unarmed prisoners, an extraordinary censure of a key US ally in the battle against the Taliban.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the cut-off was required under US law, which forbids funding of foreign military units that are singled out for gross human rights violations. They would not say how many units were singled out.

The disclosure came the same day that the United States announced $2 billion in military aid for Pakistan.

Top Pakistani officials, including from the military, were visiting Washington for high-profile bilateral talks.

At a news conference at the US State Department, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not talk about specifics, but did say any human rights concerns would be addressed with Pakistan's government.

"We take all allegations of human rights abuses seriously and we discussed them with the government of Pakistan, and we follow the law, and we work with our partners in Pakistan to deal with any issues that come to our attention," Clinton said.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said his government is taking the reports of human rights violations seriously.