With Pakistan playing an important role in pushing forward Afghan Taliban talks as per President Trump’s policy for a negotiated end to the war, the United States is conducting a review of its assistance to the country, which is likely to completed soon.
The revelation came at a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where USAID chief noted that the ongoing review of our assistance “will be finalized soon.”
“We’ll then report to you in terms of what will be going forward,” Administrator Mark Green US Agency for International Development told lawmakers that Congress will be informed when the review is complete
The Trump Administration suspended much of U.S. security assistance to Pakistan last year after President Trump accused the South Asian country of not doing enough in the fight against terror in return for American aid. Trump also accused Islamabad of allowing Afghan Haqqani militants to operate from its territory to fight U.S forces in Afghanistan.
But since then, the two countries, which allied closely in the fight against al-Qaeda after 9/11 terrorist attacks, have cooperated on kick-starting the Afghan peace process.
In response to President Trump’s letter seeking Islamabad’s support for Afghan peace talks, Prime Minister Imran Khan pledged his government’s efforts toward that end.
Pakistan has used its influence to push the Afghan Taliban into negotiations and U.S. Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has held several rounds of negotiations with representatives of the militant group in control of more than 50 of Afghan territory.
President Trump recently described the US-Pakistan relations as being “very good.”
“As with all of our programs, we have the program metrics that we use. One thing we’re trying to do more of is to shift from outputs to outcomes. So, we have our road map with 17 objective metrics that help us measure capacity and commitment in each country where we work or want to work, like Pakistan,” Green said.
“So more and more we’re trying to make sure that we’re able to make a difference on the outcome side, hasting the capacity of our host country partners to take on these challenges themselves, although in Pakistan is daunting,” he added, according to a PTI report.
Green was responding to a question raised by Congressman Brad Sherman.
“In spite of our aid to Pakistan, conditions in the Sindh Province of South Pakistan continued to deteriorate in many areas. Schools and hospitals are getting worse in many areas as is water availability,” Sherman said.
“We see the Hindu minorities subject to persecution to force conversions and forced marriages. What is USAID doing to ensure that assistance to Pakistan is improving the lives of ordinary people in Sindh?” he asked.
