The United States on Thursday reassured Pakistan that it will keep sending civilian assistance after it deferred $800 million in military aid in a bid to seek greater defense cooperation.

Thomas Nides, the US deputy secretary of state for management and resources, delivered the message in a telephone conversation with Pakistan's Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, the State Department said.

"We do have the slowdown on the security side, but our civilian assistance remains undeterred," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, describing the phone call.

"We continue to work productively on the civilian side. That assistance continues to flow," Toner told reporters.

The United States suspended the military assistance — about one third of its $2.7 billion annual defense package — some two months after a US operation killed top terror suspect Osama bin Laden near Pakistan's top military academy.

After the raid, the United States pledged to keep relations steady with Pakistan. But US frustration has mounted, including over Islamabad's decision to oust up to 200 US personnel who planned to train Pakistani forces.

The United States entered a war partnership with Pakistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks when Islamabad renounced its support for the hardline Taliban regime in neighboring Afghanistan.

President Barack Obama's administration took office in 2009 pledging to move the relationship away from just military cooperation and instead to focus on building Pakistan's weak civilian institutions, schools and infrastructure.

Toner said that the United States has given Pakistan some $2 billion in civilian aid since a major congressional bill was approved in 2009. Of the aid, $550 million was emergency relief for Pakistan's massive floods last year.

earlier related report

NATO commander Petraeus meets Pakistani army chief
Islamabad (AFP) July 14, 2011 –

General David Petraeus, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, visited Pakistan for security talks with its army chief on Thursday amid high tensions between Washington and Islamabad.

"They discussed various topics of mutual interest and ways to improve regional security," the US embassy said in a statement after Petraeus met his Pakistani counterpart General Ashfaq Kayani.

The talks came after Washington decided to withhold a third of its annual $2.7 billion security assistance to Islamabad after dozens of American military trainers were ordered to leave after a May 2 raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

The cuts of $800 million reportedly include about $300 million used to reimburse Pakistan for the cost of deploying more than 100,000 soldiers along the Afghan border, a hotbed of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants.

Pakistan has been adamant that there should be no more unilateral American raids, like that which killed bin Laden in the garrison town of Abbottabad, although the White House has said it will act again if necessary.

Petraeus also met with US ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter and "received updates" on the security assistance mission to Pakistan, the embassy said.

Accompanying General Petraeus was Marine Lieutenant General John Allen who will succeed him as commander of the NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.