ISLAMABAD: The American envoy to Pakistan, Ambassador Donald Blome, highlighted his country’s interest in strengthening partnership with Pakistan to help climate-vulnerable communities on Tuesday, as he addressed a ceremony to launch a major water management initiative called Recharge Pakistan.
The project aims to build climate resilience by utilizing nature-based solutions, such as restoring wetlands, floodplains and improving groundwater recharge, especially in the Indus Basin region. Its core objectives include reducing the impacts of floods and droughts and increasing water security in the country.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Climate Change is involved in its implementation, with the help of international partners like the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
“I am delighted to be here as we join our partners in launching Recharge Pakistan – an ambitious climate initiative that will strengthen flood resilience and improve water security in some of Pakistan’s most vulnerable communities,” Ambassador Blome said while addressing at the project’s launch event in Islamabad.
“Recharge Pakistan’s network of green infrastructure projects will rehabilitate floodwater channels, rerouting excess water away from where people live and work,” he continued. “It will reforest and restore wetlands to prevent dangerous runoff. It will revitalize the soil’s ability to absorb excess water and store it underground.”
The US ambassador said the project would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and replenish the water supply by creating 127 new groundwater storage basins.
He noted that Pakistan was the fifth most vulnerable country to climate change, according to the Global Climate Risk Index, saying it was experiencing the effects of the climate crisis every day.
“Rising temperatures have taken a toll on Pakistan’s majestic glaciers,” he said. “And Pakistani farmers have seen crops wither under droughts.”
“But by coming together, we can help communities adapt, mitigate, and even reverse some of the worst impacts of climate change,” he added. “And we can do it in a way that lifts up local communities.”
Blome pointed out that his country’s partnership with Pakistan on water management dated back to the 1960s.
He informed that the US had provided $5 billion to the Green Climate Fund and was bringing in new investments in renewable energy to help Pakistan achieve its ambitious goal of reaching 60 percent renewable energy by 2030.
He said Recharge Pakistan will reduce flooding hazards for more than 50,000 hectares, provide Pakistani families, businesses and farms access to clean, fresh water and improve the livelihoods of 687,000 people while indirectly benefiting more than seven million people in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh.
“The United States will continue to broaden and deepen our partnership with Pakistan to protect climate-vulnerable communities, and build a greener, more prosperous and climate resilient future,” he added.
US envoy vows to strengthen climate partnership with Pakistan, launches water initiative
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US envoy vows to strengthen climate partnership with Pakistan, launches water initiative
- Ambassador Blome says Recharge Pakistan will benefit more than seven million people in three Pakistani provinces
- He says it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, replenish water supply by creating 127 groundwater storage basins
Pakistan says it seized 32 square kilometers inside Afghanistan as border clashes escalate
- Security official describes ‘limited tactical action’ in Gudwana after Afghan assaults
- Islamabad accuses Kabul of sheltering militants as UN, China and Russia urge restraint
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has seized a 32-square-kilometer area inside Afghanistan following overnight fighting, a security official said on Saturday, as cross-border clashes between the two countries escalated sharply.
A Pakistani security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said troops carried out a “limited tactical action” in the Gudwana area opposite the Zhob sector along the frontier, capturing Afghan territory after responding to attacks on Pakistani positions.
“On the night of Feb. 26/27, posts opposite the Zhob sector launched anticipated physical attacks on multiple Pakistani positions,” the official said, referring to fighters linked to Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities, whom Islamabad identifies as Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan (TTA).
“In response to aggressive unprovoked fire and physical attacks, Pakistan security forces launched a limited tactical action on the night of Feb. 27/28 in the general area of Gudwana with a view to capture TTA Tahir Post,” he continued, adding that 32 square kilometers of Afghan territory were seized.
The official said special combat teams crossed the border after preparatory bombardment, supported by intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets providing “real-time battlefield awareness.”
He said 24 Afghan Taliban fighters were killed and 37 wounded, with no Pakistani casualties reported.
The claims could not be independently verified, and there was no immediate confirmation from Taliban authorities in Kabul of any territorial loss in the Gudwana area.
The latest clashes erupted after Pakistani airstrikes targeted what Islamabad described as militant hideouts inside Afghanistan over the weekend, triggering retaliatory fire along the frontier and sharply escalating long-running tensions. Islamabad accuses Kabul of sheltering Pakistani Taliban militants responsible for attacks inside Pakistan, an allegation that Afghanistan denies.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Saturday evening that 352 Afghan Taliban fighters had been killed and more than 535 wounded since the latest phase of hostilities began.
Tarar said Pakistani strikes had destroyed 130 check posts, 171 tanks and armored vehicles and targeted 41 locations across Afghanistan by air. Those figures could not be independently verified.
The United Nations, as well as China and Russia, have called for restraint.
The United States said Pakistan has the right to defend itself against cross-border militancy.
