According to Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the United States is willing to provide Pakistan funds to enhance border security to fight against threats from across the Afghan border. In response to inquiries from Dawn, the foreign minister stated that two influential senators, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bob Menendez of New Jersey, informed him that they had been given “funding in the 2023 budget to help us with border security” during his visit to the US Congress last week.
While highlighting the two senators’ high positions, Mr Bhutto-Zardari stated that Senator Menendez chairs the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and that Senator Graham, a senior Republican, chairs the Senate Committee on Judiciary.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilal Bhutto-Zardari says Washington’s offer of help to mediate with India ‘ was not discussed in meetings, only in public statements. Both India and Pakistan engaged in a war of words over occupied Kashmir and other issues last week. But the US appears keener to cooperate with Islamabad in combating terrorist attacks from Afghanistan. Congress passed an omnibus bill setting aside $200 million for promoting gender equality in Pakistan and emphasising the need to combat terrorism. The US has offered to assist India and Pakistan in resolving their differences, a spokesperson for US Secretary of State David Price has said.
The statement is seen as a shift away from the US South Asia policy of recent years resting on the centrality of India. Each of them is indispensable to the US and the promotion and pursuit of shared goals are equally important.
