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29 October 2009
Clinton Announces Millions in Assistance for Pakistani People

Related:
 • U.S. Provides $45 Million for Higher Education Commission
 • Note on U.S. Aid for Pakistan Law Enforcement, Border Security

By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer

Washington — As part of her first visit to Pakistan as secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton announced millions of dollars in U.S. assistance to benefit a variety of the country’s programs and institutions, ranging from humanitarian, education and security assistance to microloans and a cellular-phone social network.

The secretary has said she wants to “turn the page” in the relationship between Pakistan and the United States beyond their security cooperation and efforts to combat violent extremism. In remarks with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Islamabad October 28, Clinton said the United States wants to help the people of Pakistan as they work to improve their country’s prosperity and democracy.

“In this time of economic challenge, we want to help you to do what you believe is best for your country. In the economic arena, we want to help you with jobs and economic development and the infrastructure that will create investments — access to education, providing more support in health care, and in particular, improving the energy supply, something I have heard about in every meeting that I’ve had with any Pakistani since I became secretary of state,” Clinton said.

Clinton announced that the United States is providing $125 million to fund the first phase of a program to repair and upgrade Pakistan’s energy infrastructure to reduce blackouts in the country. (See “Clinton Announces Projects to Improve Pakistan’s Energy Sector.”)

Some of the new assistance projects are designed to benefit Pakistanis who have been directly affected by the fighting between Pakistani security forces and Pakistani Taliban forces fighting in the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

Secretary Clinton pledged an additional $56 million to provide humanitarian assistance to people displaced by the fighting. Over the past two years, the United States has provided more than $281 million in humanitarian assistance to Pakistan. According to an October 28 media note, the new funding will provide $25 million to help refugees returning to the Buner, Swat and Lower Dir districts in the NWFP, supporting early recovery programs which cover “the basic needs of returnees in the six to nine months in the immediate aftermath of their return.”

The U.N.’s World Food Programme will receive $21 million to help it provide food to returning people, and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees will receive $10 million to provide “winterization support” for more than 133,000 who were recently displaced by fighting in North and South Waziristan. (See “U.S. Pledges $56 Million for Assistance to Displaced Pakistanis.”)

Clinton also announced a $45 million contribution to the Pakistani government’s Higher Education Commission. Among its primary purposes is increasing university and technical education opportunities for “students who have been displaced by violence and to those living in vulnerable areas,” such as the NWFP and the FATA, according to a separate October 28 State Department media note. (See “United States Supports Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission.”)

The funding comes as part of the $1 billion pledge made by the United States for Pakistan at the Tokyo Donor’s Conference in April. (See “U.S. Pledges $1 Billion for Pakistan at Tokyo Donors’ Conference.”)

In addition to help for students displaced by violence, the $45 million contribution will fund an increase in academic exchanges between Pakistan and the United States, support educational infrastructure upgrades and teacher training at vocational and university institutions, and allow the Higher Education Commission to “exempt displaced students from fees, expand opportunities for students to become health professionals, and expand engineering and women’s education,” the note said.

To help the Pakistani government provide better law enforcement and border security in the NWFP and the FATA, Clinton pledged $103.5 million to help improve the capacity of the country’s law enforcement agencies. According to an October 28 State Department media note, $37.5 million will support “police training in areas such as leadership and human rights, the provision of commodities, and infrastructure support that will improve the capacity, mobility, and survivability of Pakistan’s police.” (See “Note on U.S. Aid for Pakistan Law Enforcement, Border Security.”)

The pledge follows a $9 million commitment by the United States made in July to train the NWFP Police Elite Force, provide it “life-saving protective equipment and vehicles,” and to rebuild and strengthen police stations, which have been affected by the conflict between the government and violent extremists in the NWFP.

In addition, Pakistan’s Ministry of Interior Air Wing will receive five additional Huey II helicopters, collectively valued at $19.7 million, and $26 million in operational and maintenance support for its increased helicopter fleet.

Projects to build 87 additional kilometers of roads and bridges in the FATA and the NWFP will receive $40 million of the $103.5 million pledge. The note said the United States has built more than 1,300 kilometers of roads in both areas, as well as providing 1,000 small agriculture, water and electric projects.

“The road construction program has increased the geographic and economic mobility of Pakistan’s citizens and provided law enforcement access to previously inaccessible areas,” the note said.

The United States is also contributing to the Government of Pakistan’s’ Benazir Bhutto Income Support Program, which provides cash loans worth $3,600 to Pakistani women and families living in poverty to help them establish entrepreneurial projects. The program is named after Pakistan’s former prime minister who was assassinated in December 2007.  

According to an October 28 State Department media note, Clinton announced an $85 million contribution to the program and helped to distribute checks to those who were selected to receive the microloans from the first monthly drawing in September. (See “U.S. Support for Pakistan’s Benazir Income Support Program.”)

“The program aims to empower Pakistani women with households whose monthly income is less than Rs 6000 ($72) … [and] provides a lifeline for families who are struggling in the wake of rising food inflation,” the note said.

The United States also is supporting the establishment of Pakistan’s first mobile phone-based social network, Humari Awaz (“Our Voice”), by covering the costs of the service’s first 24 million messages.

An October 29 State Department media note said 95 million Pakistanis use mobile phones, a number far greater than those who have computer and Internet access. Humari Awaz will use SMS technology to allow Pakistanis to build interactive networks around interests and subjects of their choice, with the option to identify themselves or remain anonymous. (See “Clinton Encourages Use of New Media Communications in Pakistan.”)

“In addition to linking friends and families, the network will also help a range of other users — from farmers and resellers who want to share market prices, to businesses that wish to communicate with their staff on the road, to news outlets that want to share information with targeted groups,” the note said.

A transcript of remarks by Clinton and Qureshi is available.

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