ISLAMABAD – The United States has planned to allocate $101 million in aid to strengthen democracy, fight terrorism and support economic reforms in Pakistan in fiscal year 2025.
Donald Lu, US State’s Assistant Secretary for the South and Central Asia region, presented the budget request to House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee as the US aims at preventing the Pakistan’s reliance on China, which is running mega projects in the South Asian country.
Lu highlighted that the overall budget proposal of $1.01 billion for the region is 1.9% less than the allocation made in financial year 2023.
“On Pakistan, we face ongoing challenges and opportunities,” he told the Foreign Affairs Committee. “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 stabilize Pakistan’s economy and prevent further overreliance on the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” he added.
Donald Lu, who was accused by former prime minister Imran Khan for hatching a plan for ouster of his government, said he was facing tough times while competing with China in the region, which aims at gaining military and commercial stronghold in the Indian Ocean.
“Our most effective strategy to counter an assertive PRC is to demonstrate that we have something better to offer — better development opportunities, better commercial deals, and better solutions for their security challenges,” he said.
Pakistan’s Finance Minister meets Donald Lu, IMF officials in Washington
