Pakistan criticizes Washington over spy allegations

ISLAMABAD / WASHINGTON - Pakistan warned the United States it risks losing an ally if it continued to accuse Islamabad of playing a double game in the war against militancy, escalating the crisis in relations between the two countries.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar was responding to comments by US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, who said Pakistan's top spy agency was closely tied to the Haqqani network, the most violent and effective faction among Islamic Taliban militants in Afghanistan.

It is the most serious allegation leveled by the United States against nuclear-armed and Muslim-majority Pakistan since they began an alliance in the "war on terror" a decade ago.