News
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
US pledges to help Pakistan overcome all challenges
* US envoy Richard Holbrooke lauds Islamabad’s efforts to curb militancy along Pak-Afghan border
WASHINGTON: Hailing the recent progress in the US-Pakistan strategic partnership as a “tremendous step forward”, the Obama administration on Monday assured Islamabad of robust cooperation in dealing with the country’s economic, water and energy challenges.
Richard Holbrooke, the US’ special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, also praised Pakistan’s vital efforts in curbing militant activity along the Afghan border including the capture of Afghan Taliban and expressed understanding
of Islamabad’s regional security concerns.“I want to assure that led by President (Barack) Obama and the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, we are putting more and more emphasis on energy and water issues and we will continue to do that up to the absolute
limit of what Congress will fund. It is a big issue,” Holbrooke said, recognising the priority Pakistani people assign to addressing immediate economic, energy and water problems.The American diplomat was speaking during the course of a conversation hosted by World Affairs Councils of America Chairman Marc Grossman on the Obama administration’s work in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Stressing cooperative ties with Islamabad, he said the Obama administration has already committed to supporting many energy projects and some water projects are also in the works.
“Today, we feel there has been a lot of improvement” in US-Pakistan relations, Holbrooke declared in comparison with the state of relations between the two countries before the Obama Administration took over.
Holbrooke described the strategic dialogue last month - co-chaired by Hillary and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi - as a “tremendous step forward”.
The dialogue is a “demonstration of how much importance we attach to the US-Pakistan relations,” he added.
Besides working bilaterally, Washington is also supporting Pakistan in its programmes with international financial institutions including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and also led efforts at a major Tokyo conference to commit the world power’s backing for the South Asian country’s economic development plans, Holbrooke said.
“We are working with the IMF, in order to make sure that standby agreements are extended. We are working with the Pakistani leadership on the country’s economic, energy and water issues. This is a vast undertaking, we want to do more for Pakistan. We have got a whole array of ideas here. We do work closely with the government,” he said. To a question, Holbrooke said, “In the overall context, the Pakistanis are dealing with their problems. But the country needs our support”. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk