Pak-US Relationship

[A1Kaid]

Originally Posted by vinod2070

Pakistan only becomes important when there is turmoil in Afghanistan. Else it has no real importance to USA.

Pakistan has always exploited and prolonged the sufferings of Afghans to fill its pockets and armory.

If only the United States was as smart as you...

[Neo]

US to provide $320 million for education in ‘far-flung areas’

* USAID official says $264 million to be allocated for basic education, while $70 million for higher education

ISLAMABAD: The US on Thursday assured the government of Pakistan that it would provide $334 million for the promotion of primary and higher education in far-flung areas of the country, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Director of Education David Barth told the media on Thursday.

At a joint press conference after the session of Pak-US Strategic Dialogue on Education, Barth said $264 million would be given to Pakistan for basic education, while $70 million are allocated for the higher education sector, including Fulbright Scholarships for Pakistani students.

He said that many USAID projects have been initiated in Pakistan over the years for enhancing education facilities, as well as equipping teachers with modern teaching techniques.

Focus: “Pakistan and the US have been enjoying long-term relations and the present government has extended its foreign policy to seek guidance from them in education sector,” Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Social Sector Shahnaz Wazir Ali said.

During the session, Shahnaz said the main focus of the discussion was on issues of primary, middle, and technical education.

“The schools in rural areas lack basic facilities which affect the learning of students… proper utilisation of funds for facilities including water, toilets and others were discussed during the dialogue,” she added.

It was discussed that the students, who do not have access to schools, would be given an education through distant learning programmes and modern and interactive technology will be used to educate them. However, working groups will be constituted with focus on different areas, while a separate group will work on early childhood education, she said.

The younger ones will be taught skills, according to the market needs to provide them with better job opportunities in the future, she added.

To a question, Shahnaz said that Rs 15.7 billion allocated for the Higher Education Commission are though not sufficient to meet the required needs of this sector, but the government has decided to review the budget during September-October. app

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

[Neo]

US to announce massive aid package today

ISLAMABAD (July 19 2010): US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will announce Monday a massive aid deal for Pakistan, a senior US official said, as it seeks to build relations with its wavering anti-terror ally. The money will focus on vital energy and water sectors, the official said, shortly after Clinton arrived in Islamabad on Sunday for high-level talks, adding that full details of the projects would be announced on Monday.

The projects will be part of a five-year, 7.5 billion-dollar aid package approved by US Congress last year, which hopes to temper anti-Americanism in Pakistan by building schools, infrastructure and democratic institutions.

The plan includes several water dam projects in the areas of Gomal Zam, Satpara and Baluchistan. Three hospitals will also be renovated and expanded in Karachi, Lahore and Jacobabad. Two specific programmes are to be devoted to agriculture, one for the training of farmers in dairy production, and the other to increase production and export of mangoes.

APP adds: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will present about $500 million in new US aid to Pakistan as part of ongoing efforts to improve America's partnership with a key player in President Barack Obama's Afghanistan war strategy, The Washington Post reported.

The aid, primarily for water and energy projects, is the first major funding to flow from a $7.5 billion, five-year development package under Kerry-Lugar-Berman Act.

The aid measure was approved by the United States Congress last fall and according to the Post, the US economic assistance this year is projected to surpass military aid to Pakistan for the first time in a decade. Clinton who arrived in Islamabad on Sunday, first travelled to Pakistan as secretary of state in October last year.

Since the initial session of the strategic dialogue in Washington March this year, representatives of the two governments have drawn up lists of agreed projects, with the United States seeking programs that will be visible to the greatest number of Pakistanis, the Post reported.

"We think you're going to find a different situation here" in terms of anti-American feeling compared to Clinton's last visit, Richard Holbrooke, US Special Representative for the region, said.

Pakistan's discontent with the United States stems mainly from Washington's abandonment of the country after getting Islamabad's key help in ousting the Soviet Union from neighbouring Afghanistan at the end of 1980s.

Meanwhile, according to CNN a top US official described Pakistan as "one of the most critical countries in the world." The United States has an intense interest in what happens in the tribal regions on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, Richard Holbrooke said, according to CNN. al Qaeda is thought to be based in the border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The region is among Washington's "highest priorities," Holbrooke said, but to make progress, "we need to change the core of the relationship" between the United States, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"The fact that we are delivering is producing change in Pakistani attitudes," Holbrooke said. Recent polls have indicated a slight improvement in Pakistani opinion about the United States.

After her two-day visit to Pakistan, Clinton will travel to Kabul for a conference where Karzai is expected to announce concrete plans for reintegration of low-level Taliban fighters, anti-corruption plans, a new community defence program and other initiatives that the international community has agreed to fund.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

[Neo]

US offers $500m carrot, pushes govt to ‘do more’

* Clinton announces aid for water, power, agriculture and health sectors, seeks tougher action from Islamabad to combat militants
* Mistrust over US intentions in Pakistan is an inherited legacy, not going to end overnight
* Qureshi says two countries have agreed upon a ‘document of vision for long-term engagement’

ISLAMABAD: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced more than $500 million in new aid projects for Pakistan on Monday, which Washington hopes will help win over a sceptical public in an ally vital to winning the war in Afghanistan.

At the same time, Clinton again said that both the US and Pakistan should work harder to go after al Qaeda leaders still believed to be hiding in Pakistan’s borderlands in the northwest. In a television interview between the talks, Clinton said she believed Osama bin Laden was still in Pakistan.

“We would like to work more closely together to go after them and either capture or kill them,” she told reporters. “I believe they are here in Pakistan and it would be really helpful if we could get them,” she added.

Speaking at a joint press briefing with her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the conclusion of the second round of what they called “elevated and extended” strategic dialogue, Clinton, said “we are making progress”, and acknowledged the long road ahead. She said, “We’re committed to building a partnership with Pakistan that goes far beyond security, to economy.”

Clinton said there was a need to go beyond the rhetoric to an in-depth dialogue.

Labelling terrorists: She confirmed that Washington planned to formally designate the Haqqani network a foreign terrorist organisation while cautiously welcoming other Afghan plans to talk with and reintegrate fighters who renounce violence.

“We know that the Haqqani network is behind many attacks in Afghanistan... it’s clearly a terrorist group,” Clinton told reporters.

She said any insurgents who wish to reconcile must lay down their arms, renounce any partnership with al Qaeda and accept Afghanistan’s constitution.

About the strategic dialogue, Clinton said it covered 13 areas leading to a project that focuses on energy, water, health, education, information and even export of Pakistani mangoes to the US market. The projects, the first to be launched under a new aid plan, are seen as crucial to shoring up support for the US-led struggle against terrorists in a country where opinion polls show that fewer than one in five view the US favourably.

Inherited legacy: Mistrust over US intentions in Pakistan is in part due to Washington’s decision to turn away from the country after enlisting its support to defeat the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

“Of course there is a legacy of suspicion that we inherited. It is not going to be eliminated overnight,” Clinton said, adding that the US would stand by Pakistan against all those who were acting against the state of Pakistan.

Document: Foreign Minister Qureshi said Pakistan and the US have agreed upon a “document of vision for long-term engagement and to develop a partnership between people of the two countries”. Terming the dialogue a “very useful engagement”, he said it would promote and strengthen relations as it has now entered the implementation phase.

He said the next round of strategic dialogue would be held in October in Washington. He said Pakistan has been meeting its energy needs through nuclear power for 35 years and has a clear policy on non-proliferation. Qureshi said the civil nuclear projects would be open to inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Meanwhile, Clinton also met Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani and “discussed matters of mutual interest”, according to an army statement.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

[Thunder]

IISI behaviour towards Afghanistan changing: US


WASHINGTON: US Vice-President Joe Biden said in an interview aired on Thursday that Pakistan’s intelligence agency was “changing” its behaviour towards Afghanistan.

Mr Biden downplayed leaked documents which suggested that between 2004 and 2009, elements of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), armed, trained and financed the Taliban despite Islamabad’s anti-terror alliance with Washington.

“I’m getting very close to what I shouldn’t be talking about in terms of classification,” said Mr Biden on NBC’s “Today” show.

“But what was talked about in those leaks were the intelligence community within the ISI. That is the sort of the CIA of Pakistan.

“That has been a problem in the past. It is a problem we’re dealing with and is changing.”—AFP

[noname]

Originally Posted by Neo

Pakistan’s perspective

Dawn Editorial
Friday, 18 Sep, 2009

IF ever there was a time that the US has appeared to ‘get’ Pakistan’s approach to regional security, this may be it.

Adm Mike Mullen has made two telling statements at a hearing of the US Senate Committee on Armed Services this week. First, Adm Mullen has accurately summarised Pakistan’s approach by stating that our strategy for dealing with militancy is affected by the ‘principal’ and ‘existential’ threat from India, though the army is seriously concerned about the threat of militancy and is addressing the problem to an extent. Setting aside the issue of apportioning blame for the mess of militancy for a minute and taking a hard look at the overall security environment of this region, Adm Mullen’s frank call for ‘realism’ is the right one. Pakistan has serious and legitimate interests to defend vis-à-vis India.

First and foremost, with or without Pakistani-sponsored or -encouraged jihad in Kashmir, the Kashmir issue is very much alive and it needs to be resolved. Denying or downplaying the dissatisfaction in Indian-administered Kashmir will not change that fact. Other serious issues include the fair use of the two countries’ dwindling water supplies, Indian ‘interference’ inside Pakistan, its expanding interests in Afghanistan and the lingering suspicion that the Indian political class remains in thrall to hawkish elements who are opposed to the normalisation of ties with Pakistan. Until and unless these issues are resolved to the mutual satisfaction of both countries, India will loom large in Pakistan’s ‘threat perception’. It is not a threat on the part of Pakistan to demand to be released from those concerns before it can fully turn its attention to defeating militancy inside Pakistan and in the region generally. Nor does it mean that Pakistan can demand, or is demanding, that the Pak-India and militancy issues be addressed sequentially. It just means that long-term peace in the region will only be possible if Pakistan and India can resolve their differences.

Second, Adm Mullen has correctly pointed out that there is real uncertainty in Afghanistan and Pakistan over whether the Americans remain committed to the region. Part of that uncertainty, which breeds fear and perhaps causes the Pakistani and Afghan governments to baulk at full cooperation with the US, is created by the way the US has defined its goal in the region i.e. eliminating safe havens for Al Qaeda. Suppose the Americans do achieve that goal, will that mean cutting and running like they did two decades ago? Notwithstanding long-term aid commitments, the US needs to do more to reassure Pakistan and Afghanistan of its commitment to the region.

Did you think the americans were taking you on to raise.?

I just read a survey where it said that more then 75 percent of Pakistanis thought women should be stoned to death for adultry and about the same percentage should be stoned to death for changing religions. I doubt if USA is going to be able to stomach helping such people forever.

[Sikander]

US-Pak must maintain strong ties in fact a strong alliance. Pakistan has supported US in Cold war against Soviets, and Americans need to remember that.

[noname]

Originally Posted by Sikander

US-Pak must maintain strong ties in fact a strong alliance. Pakistan has supported US in Cold war against Soviets, and Americans need to remember that.

Mainly because the Soviets were seen as allies of India.

[Neo]

US, Pakistan to resolve differences soon: Mullen

Monday, 04 Oct, 2010

WASHINGTON: The US military chief said on Sunday he was confident the United States and Pakistan could resolve the issues that led to Pakistan closing a major supply route for US and Nato operations in Afghanistan.

A Pentagon press statement, quoted Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, as telling reporters in Tucson, Arizona, that he had not yet seen any major impact on the US-led forces in Afghanistan from the closing.

The admiral acknowledged that the US military had analysed the situation to determine what the effects would be if the route was closed for a longer period, but hoped that such a closure could be averted.

“I believe we will figure a way to work our way through this,” he said, emphasising Pakistan’s importance as a strategic partner.

Pakistan closed the crossing at Torkham after US helicopters killed three Pakistani soldiers on Sept 30.

The incident escalated tensions over civilian casualties along the border, prompting the closure.

The American Forces Press Service noted that about 50 per cent of coalition forces’ non-lethal supplies, including water, food and fuel, reached Afghanistan through Pakistan’s Torkham and Shaman gates.

Admiral Mullen, who has visited Pakistan 20 times since taking the top military post in 2007, said the United States had been working to rebuild Pakistani trust. How that’s resolved, he said, would go a long way towards shaping the future US-Pakistani relationship.

“We left them in a dark hole from about 1990 to 2002, and they don’t trust us,” he said. “We are trying to rebuild that trust. And it’s basically coming, but you don’t rebuild it overnight.”

This effort, he noted, came at a time of “enormous challenge” for Pakistan, whose border with Afghanistan is “the epicentre of terrorism”.“They have just been devastated” by an unprecedented flood, said Admiral Mullen, who toured flood-stricken areas of Pakistan last month with the Pakistani Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

DAWN.COM | Front Page | US, Pakistan to resolve differences soon: Mullen

[S-2]

"Pakistan has supported US in Cold war against Soviets, and Americans need to remember that."

That was a long time ago and the support was mutual. The issues we now face together are at least, by themselves, a decade old but even more intractable. There are severe trust issues on both sides which I don't see bridged anytime soon (if at all).

The extent, if sucessful at all, will likely prove tenuous for years if not decades. We've a long way to go together and questionable if we ever get there.

The most recent incidents reflect the continuing distrust. Unquestionably Khost suffered another attack by taliban forces who very likely retreated back across the internat'l border. Unsurprising. That NATO (specifically America) vigorously prosecuted their retreat is unusual but unsurprising. That coordination was poor and frontier corps troops were killed as a result is equally unsurprising, if painfully disappointing.

That convoys were stopped by the GoP is unsurprising. That those stopped convoys were immediately attacked by miscreants is also unsurprising. There's little doubt they were vectored to the vehicles with assistance. America and NATO lose the supplies. Pakistani transportation companies lose the trucks. Hopefully their drivers are safe. Even the obligatory apology is unsurprising.

Summary. Everything which has occurred aside from the helicopter strikes was thoroughly unsurprising.

I hope none of us here are surprised that so much is unsurprising.

Thanks.