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Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON--(UPDATE) The United States warned Monday that its ties with Pakistan may not "remain the same" unless President Pervez Musharraf reverses his decision to impose emergency rule.

"We think this is a setback. We think there needs to be a reversal of this decision," Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman, told reporters when asked whether Washington preferred stability over democracy.

"We think Pakistan needs to go ahead and have elections as scheduled by January 15. We do think that it is difficult to see how our relations could remain the same if this step is not, in fact reversed," he said.

Casey said the US government had worked with the government of General Musharraf, a key US ally in the war on terror who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, on the premise that it was moving to restore democracy.

"I think it's axiomatic that if we have now gone in a different direction, then our relationship will not remain the same," he said.

Casey also said he understood that all US military, economic development and political aid to Pakistan is under review since Musharraf on Saturday suspended the constitution, sacked the nation's top judge and brought in strict media curbs.

"I don't think anything is off the table in terms of review," he said.

But Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said previously there was no plan to suspend military aid to Pakistan.

And during a visit to Jeruslalem on Sunday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that Washington would have to "review aid" even though it had "continuing counter-terrorism concerns."

She added: "We have to be able to protect American citizens by continuing to fight against terrorists," she said.

Pakistan is engaged in frequent battles with Islamist militants hiding along the border with Afghanistan.

US aid to Pakistan has totaled an estimated $11 billion since it became a frontline US ally in the war against terrorism launched in 2001 against the Taliban government in Afghanistan and its Al-Qaeda allies.


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