Pakistan today reacted strongly to US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta's remarks questioning its actions in tackling terrorism, saying the sharp comments only added an "unhelpful twist" in the already oxygen-starved ties. 

Pakistan's Ambassador to the US Sherry Rehman said the remraks have further reduced the space for narrowing bilateral differences, that have been hit by a series of conflagrations in the recent past. 

"This kind of public messaging from a senior member of the US administration is taken very seriously in Pakistan, and reduces the space for narrowing our bilateral differences at a critical time in the negotiations," Rehman said in a statement.

Panetta had said in Kabul yesterday that the US was losing patience with Pakistan on the issue of militant safe havens on the Pakistani side of the border with Afghanistan.