ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—The U.S. canceled talks in Washington involving Pakistan due to an escalating diplomatic row over the detention last month of an American employed by the U.S. government who shot dead two armed men.

A U.S. State Department statement Sunday said the high-level meeting involving Pakistan, Afghanistan and the U.S. was called off "in light of the political changes in Pakistan." Pakistan's government Friday announced cabinet changes that removed Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the country's former foreign minister, from...