US announces $1 million aid for Pakistan

US announces $1 million aid for Pakistan. The United States has announced another $10 million in aid to Pakistan to deal with floods and other natural disasters.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote on the social networking website Twitter that Washington stands with Pakistan in this hour of difficulty and offered help to the flood victims. He said that $100,000 were provided as immediate aid to Pakistan.

Blinken further stated that the US has announced to give another $1 million to Pakistan to deal with natural disasters.

“We will continue to work with Pakistan to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis,” he said.

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On 20 October 1947, two months and six days after the independence of Pakistan through the partition of British India, the United States became one of the first nations to establish relations with Pakistan.

The relations are a very important factor in the United States government’s overall policy in South and Central Asia as well as Eastern Europe.

The relationship between the two nations, however, has been described as “roller coaster” given by the characterization of close coordination and lows marked by deep bilateral estrangement.

From 1948 to 2016, the United States has provided nearly US$78.3 billion (adjusted to 2016 value of dollar) to Pakistan in grants annually in forms of military aid. Of these aid and funds arrangement, Pakistan was obligated to spend these monetary funds by purchasing American goods, food, and other services.

In spite of China being the largest importer and exporter for Pakistan’s market, the United States continues to be one of the largest sources of foreign direct investment in Pakistan and is Pakistan’s largest export market.

With U.S. military assistance suspended in 2018 and civilian aid reduced to about $300 million for 2022, Pakistani authorities have turned to other countries for help.

From 1979 to 1989, the United States and Pakistan cooperated in the funding and financing of the Afghan Mujahideen who engaged the Soviet Union in the Soviet-Afghan War, with their relations taking a deep dive with the introduction of a unilateral military embargo by the United States over the covert development of nuclear weapons, which Pakistani administrators saw as the only way to defend the nation in light of India’s larger military conventional attack in 1990.

With sanctions waived in 1994 with Pakistan’s willingness to participate with the United States in the wars in Somalia and Bosnia, the United States again suspended aid and imposed sanctions along with India in 1998, only to be lifted once again with the United States engagement in Afghanistan in 2001.