The five-year assistance plan, which replaces an earlier package that expired, meets a key request of Pakistan's leaders. But Washington also warned it would deny aid to units accused of human rights violations.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US administration would ask Congress to approve two billion dollars in military aid from 2012 to 2016 as part of the United States' "enduring commitment to help Pakistan plan for its defense needs."

"The United States has no stronger partner when it comes to counterterrorism efforts against the extremists who threaten us both than Pakistan," Clinton said at high-level, three-day talks between the two nations.

The military package would be in addition to 7.5 billion dollars which Congress last year committed over five years in civilian aid, including building schools and roads, in a bid to dent the allure of extremists.

Pakistan, which had been the main backer of Afghanistan's Taliban regime, dumped its support overnight after the September 11, 2001 attacks and became the pivotal US partner offering access into its northwestern neighbor.

US officials have long questioned whether Pakistan has fully cut off ties to Afghanistan's Taliban or acted against extremists at home. But Pakistan last year launched a major offensive on homegrown Taliban, who moved perilously close to the nuclear power's capital Islamabad.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who is accompanied by the army chief to the strategic dialogue in Washington, denounced criticism of his country's efforts against extremism.

"There are still tongue-in-cheek comments, even in this capital, about Pakistan's heart not really being in this fight. I do not know what greater evidence to offer than the blood of our people," Qureshi said, sitting next to Clinton.

"Prophets of doom are back in business painting doomsday scenarios about our alliance. They are dead wrong," he said.

But a White House report to Congress this month faulted Pakistan for not working against Afghanistan's Taliban, in what experts say is an attempt by Islamabad to preserve influence in its neighbor if and when US troops leave.

The United States said Friday, without offering details, that it had decided to bar assistance to units accused of abuses. A video surfaced this month that appears to show Pakistani troops summarily executing six men.

"We take all allegations of human rights abuses seriously, and we discuss them with the government of Pakistan," Clinton said.

Qureshi promised that Pakistan was investigating the video but was not yet sure of its authenticity.

"I can assure you that there will be zero tolerance against human rights violations," Qureshi said.

The United States and India have also said that Pakistan should do more to rein in fervently anti-Indian groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is blamed for orchestrating the bloody 2008 siege of Mumbai.

Obama plans to pay his first presidential visit to India next month in an effort to show his personal commitment to broadening the relationship between the world's two largest democracies.

Indian commentators have worried about Obama's early focus on Pakistan and China -- concerns unlikely to be allayed by the military package.

India has begrudgingly accepted the need for civilian aid to Pakistan but in the past voiced fears that any military assistance would be used against India, not extremists.

Pakistan and India have fought three full-fledged wars, two of them over Kashmir, the divided Himalayan region which recently witnessed protests over Indian rule.

Qureshi urged Obama to raise Kashmir during his presidential visit, referring to his comments in 2008 before his inauguration in which he mused about US mediation over the dispute.

"His coming visit to the region is the time to begin to redeem the pledge that he made earlier," Qureshi said.

However, the Obama administration has publicly steered clear of any hint of involvement on Kashmir after a sharp backlash in India over his remarks as a candidate.

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