Dan Feldman, a former U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan,
called the move "very short-sighted and myopic".
"This will have lasting negative impacts limiting the bilateral relationship well into the future," Feldman told Reuters.
The U.S. military has traditionally sought to shield such educational programs from political tensions, arguing that the ties built by bringing foreign military officers to the United States pay long-term dividends.
For example, the U.S. Army's War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, which would normally have two Pakistani military officers per year, boasts graduates including Lieutenant General Naveed Mukhtar, the current director-general of Pakistan's powerful spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI).
Current and former U.S. officials said
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis argued against excluding Pakistani officers from IMET courses.
"I am shocked... We worked so hard for this to be the one thing that got saved," said a former U.S. defense official, who was involved in the conversations.
The Pentagon declined to comment on internal government discussions, but Dana White, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said Mattis long believed in the value of the IMET program as a way to build relations between foreign militaries.
Mattis, in private discussions within the government, had warned that excluding Pakistani officers from IMET courses could contribute to a similar situation in years to come, the former U.S. defense official said.
"You can advocate for cutting off everything else and this was the one thing we were not supposed to touch," the former official said.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-trump-cracks-down-pakistan-u-cuts-military-111757934.html