U.S. to provide funds to Pakistan to enhance border security
Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said that the United States is willing to provide Pakistan funds to enhance border security for preventing cross-border attacks from Afghanistan, reported The Dawn.
The foreign minister said that during his visit to the US Congress last week, Bob Menendez and Lindsey Graham, both senior US senators, told Zardari that they have been provided funds in the 2023 budget to help Pakistan with its border security issues.
Zardari while emphasising the strong standing of the two lawmakers, said that Senator Menendez chairs the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations while Senator Graham, a senior Republican who heads the Senate Committee on Judiciary.
US State Department’s Spokesperson Ned Price had in a press briefing in Washington on December 19 said that the US will offer its help to Islamabad in view of the recent surge in attacks on Pakistan by Afghanistan-based terrorist groups like the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
“We have partnered with our Pakistani friends to help them take on this challenge. We stand ready to assist, whether with this unfolding situation or more broadly,” Price said, reported The Dawn.
The US seeks a strong partnership with Pakistan on counterterrorism and expects sustained action against all militant and terrorist groups without distinction, said a State Department spokesperson when asked by Geo News to comment on Washington’s calls to assist Islamabad in dealing with TTP threats amid a spike in terror incidents.
Both countries have suffered terribly due to terrorism, the US official said.
“We look forward to cooperative efforts to eliminate all regional and global terrorist threats and are continuing to discuss ways that we can be most effective in this regard,” the spokesperson said, as quoted by Geo News.
Recently, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police department after analysing the overall law and order situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, declared South and North Waziristan, Lakki Marwat and Bannu districts as terrorist trouble spots, reported The Dawn.
Mohammad Ali Babakhel, additional inspector general of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police (operations) told reporters: “Southern districts, including North and South Waziristan [from among the newly-merged tribal districts] as well as Lakki Marwat and Bannu districts [from settled areas], are trouble spots.”
