The US, in a bid to prevent Pakistan from drawing closer to its ‘iron-ally’ China, has sought an allocation of $100 million for Islamabad in its budget, CNN-News18 has learned.
US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu told a congressional panel that the huge sum of money would help Islamabad “strengthen democracy, fight terrorism, and stabilise the country’s economy”.
Pakistan has been struggling since the beginning of the current decade to remain stable due to dual challenges put forth by an ongoing economic crisis and a sudden, consistent surge in terrorism.
“The President’s Budget requests a straight-lining of our $101 million Pakistan budget. That money would be used to strengthen democracy and civil society, to fight terrorism and violent extremism, and to support economic reforms and debt management to help stabilise Pakistan’s economy,” Lu told a congressional panel.
Lu further added that the US was seeking to prevent Islamabad’s “further overreliance” on Beijing.
“China is the past in terms of investment; we are the future,” Lu said.
As per data from US agencies from 2023, Pakistan is the third biggest recipient of Chinese development finance worldwide with a portfolio of $70.3 billion.
“This is an interesting development where one country is being paid to stay away from another,” a highly-placed government source said.
“Pakistan is a new victim of the Chinese debt trap. We can’t rule out that Pakistan is completely taken over by China as Chinese outposts and police posts have been set up in Pakistan,” the aforementioned person said.
The president’s budget request includes a total of $1.01 billion in foreign assistance for the South and Central Asia region. This funding is intended to help the US compete with China by strengthening its influence in these areas. Additionally, the funds aim to counter disinformation campaigns from both Russia and China, which the US believes can create instability.
A significant part of this budget is said to be focused on preventing terrorist groups from threatening US security.
Recently, CNN-News18 in a recent report said that Islamabad has clear value for Beijing as a source for transporting illicit substances and dual-use technologies to advance its military programs, including potential proliferation.
Meanwhile, Amrullah Saleh, former vice-president of Afghanistan expressed surprise upon hearing the US proposal.
“The United States promises thirty cents (30 cents) per year to each Pakistani citizen to be democratic, fight terrorists, stay away from China, be friends with the US and Western world and topple your elected government when Donald Lu asks you to,” Saleh told CNN-News18.
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