Karl F. Inderfurth is a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic & International Studies. He served as U.S. assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs from 1997 to 2001.

The U.S. has poured over $20 billion into Pakistan since 9/11. We haven’t gotten our money’s worth, but neither have the Pakistanis.

Most of the U.S. aid went to the Pakistani military, but how it was spent we don’t really know.

Most of this money went to the Pakistani military, but how it was spent we don’t really know. There was little accountability, by either side. Certainly the $20 billion didn’t win "hearts and minds" in Pakistan, since very little of it ever found its way to programs that would touch the lives of the Pakistani people.

Today relations between Washington and Islamabad are on a knife’s edge. Actions taken by both countries – seen by each as dictated by their own national security and sovereign interests – have placed the two counties on a collision course. Following the U.S. raid that killed Bin Laden, Pakistan has upped the ante by outing the C.I.A.’s station chief. Can it get any worse? Yes. And both countries will be losers.

What is needed now is not further precipitate actions, but a “strategic pause” to see if a recalibration of our relations can be achieved. In this regard, cutting U.S. aid at this time will only accelerate the downward spiral we find ourselves in.