Olson Asks Congress To Approve $2bn For Pakistan, Afghanistan

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پنجشنبه 9 ثور 1395 ساعت 10:55 نوشته شده توسط TOLOnews.com

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Richard Olson, Special Representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan, on Wednesday requested U.S Congress to approve almost $2 billion USD in its budget for continued assistance to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In his testimony to Congress, Olson said: "This request strikes the appropriate balance between long-term development and strategic military-to-military cooperation, both of which are in our national security interest, and is at a level that we can responsibly implement."

The requested amount is $1.25 billion USD for Afghanistan and $742 million USD for Pakistan.

For Pakistan, the $742.2 million USD request includes $472.4 million USD in civilian assistance and $269.8 million USD in security assistance.

The request is considerably lower - over 60 percent lower - than the peak funding for Pakistan in 2010.

The $1.25 billion USD request for Afghanistan is seventeen percent below the 2016 request.

"We deem this level as necessary to maintain and expand the development gains made over the last 14 years and to honour our public commitments for assistance to Afghanistan through 2017. However, the reduction also reflects our policy of responsibly shifting to more sustainable levels, as Afghan capacity increases," Olson said.

However, in his opening remarks before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Olson said that Pakistan was at strategic crossroads, and it had to make a choice to combat all terrorist groups indiscriminately.

"Pakistan is strategically vital, due to its role in issues that matter to us, as well as its location at the crossroads of Afghanistan, India, China, and Iran. Pakistan is clearly a challenging partner; that said, it is incumbent on us to redouble our efforts to steer this relationship so that it advances regional objectives important to us," Olson said.

He further added: "We expect Pakistan to live up to its commitments made in the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG), and to take deliberate and meaningful action against any and all militant groups that seek to destabilise Afghanistan, including the Haqqani Network," Olson said.

Olson insisted that "effective engagement with Pakistan, grounded in our important national interests, is critical to promoting the consolidation of democratic institutions and economic stability while supporting the govement's counter-terrorism capabilities. In that context, we have repeatedly and frankly underscored with the most senior levels of the Pakistani leadership the need to target the Haqqani Network as part of their wider counter-terrorism operations, in keeping with their commitment not to discriminate between terrorist organisations."

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