ISLAMABAD: The United States plans to spend $101 million to strengthen democracy in Pakistan, address the threat of militancy and prevent Islamabad’s reliance on China in fiscal year 2025, said a senior American official who presented a written budget request to the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday.
Budget requests, policy proposals and funding plans are frequently presented by relevant officials to various congressional committees in the US. These testimonies are part of the legislative process and are used to inform and persuade lawmakers about the importance of proposed expenditures and policy directions.
The overall budget proposal of $1.01 billion for South and Central Asia was presented by Donald Lu, the assistant secretary for the region, who said it represented a 1.9 percent decrease from fiscal year 2023.
“On Pakistan, we face ongoing challenges and opportunities,” he told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “The President’s Budget requests a straight lining of our $101 million Pakistan budget.”
“That money would be used to strengthen democracy and civil society, to fight terrorism and violent extremism, and to support economic reforms and debt management to help stabilize Pakistan’s economy and prevent further overreliance on the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” he continued.
The American official, who was widely blamed by former prime minister Imran Khan’s party for contributing to his administration’s downfall, an allegation denied by Washington, said the US was struggling to compete with China in the region, which is seeking to secure military and commercial footholds in the Indian Ocean.
He also noted that the US administration had to “live in a world of constrained budgets.”
“Our most effective strategy to counter an assertive PRC is to demonstrate that we have something better to offer — better development opportunities, better commercial deals, and better solutions for their security challenges,” he added.
US allocates $101 million to counter Pakistan’s ‘overreliance’ on China, ‘strengthen democracy’
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US allocates $101 million to counter Pakistan’s ‘overreliance’ on China, ‘strengthen democracy’
- Donald Lu says US will also use the money to stabilize Pakistan’s economy, deal with militancy issue
- He maintains the US is living in a ‘world of constrained budgets’ while dealing with an ‘assertive’ China
Pakistan demands political dialogue, immediate ceasefire as Sudan conflict rages on
- Sudan’s civil war since April 2023 has killed over 40,000 people, displaced over 14 million people
- Pakistan urges Security Council to reject parallel government entities undermining state institutions
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s UN envoy has demanded a political dialogue and an immediate ceasefire in Sudan, where fierce fighting has raged on for months between the military and a powerful paramilitary force.
Sudan plunged into chaos in April 2023 when a power struggle between the military and the Rapid Support Forces exploded into open fighting, with widespread mass killings and rapes, and ethnically motivated violence. This has amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to the UN and international rights groups.
Sudan’s Prime Minister Kamal Idris, who heads its transitional civilian government, proposed a peace plan on Monday. Idris said his plan includes a ceasefire monitored by the United Nations, African Union and Arab League, and the withdrawal of paramilitary forces from all areas they occupy, their placement in supervised camps and their disarmament.
“There is no military solution to the conflict in Sudan,” Usman Jadoon, Pakistan’s deputy ambassador at the United Nations, said on Monday. “The only durable path forward lies in a political dialogue and reconciliation.”
Jadoon said Pakistan supports all genuine efforts and political processes aimed at achieving an immediate cessation of hostilities and ceasefire, protecting civilians and providing unfettered humanitarian access to civilians.
He called on the UN Security Council to support all efforts to safeguard Sudan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and reject “so-called parallel government or structures” that undermine state institutions and risk the country’s fragmentation.
The Pakistani envoy called for maintaining “zero tolerance” for war crimes, including attacks against UN peacekeepers and humanitarian workers, with credible investigations and accountability of the perpetrators.
“The brotherly people of Sudan have suffered beyond measure,” Jadoon said. “The guns must be silenced; hopes for a brighter future rekindled; with peace and normalcy visible on the horizon.”
The devastating war in Sudan has killed more than 40,000 people according to UN figures, but aid groups say the true number could be many times higher.
The conflict has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with over 14 million people displaced, disease outbreaks and famine spreading in parts of the country.
