US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday called on Pakistan to seek debt relief from close partner China as floods devastate the country.
\nBlinken promised strong US support for Pakistan as it dries out from the floods, which have submerged one-third of the country, an area the size of the United Kingdom.
\n\u201cWe send a simple message. We are here for Pakistan, just as we were during past natural disasters, looking ahead to rebuild,\u201d Blinken said after talks in Washington with Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.
\n\u201cI also urged our colleagues to engage China on some of the important issues of debt relief and restructuring so that Pakistan can more quickly recover from the floods,\u201d Blinken said.
\nChina is a key economic and political partner of Pakistan, pushing ahead with the $54 billion economic corridor that will build infrastructure and give Beijing an outlet to the Indian Ocean.
\nWashington, whose alliance with Islamabad has frayed, has repeatedly charged that China will reap the benefits while Pakistan will face unsustainable debt.
\nThe warnings by the United States \u2014 which considers China its pre-eminent global competitor \u2014 have repeatedly been brushed aside by Pakistan.
\nSome 1,600 people \u2014 one-third of them children \u2014 have died in Pakistan\u2019s floods and more than seven million have been displaced, amid fears that such severe disasters will become more common due to climate change.
\nThe United States has committed $56 million in humanitarian aid and sent 17 planes full of supplies, with promises of long-term support.
\nBilawal said that US President Joe Biden, who signed a landmark domestic climate package last month, also needed to look at \u201cclimate justice\u201d. \u201cIt\u2019s not only important that you \u2018build back better\u2019 here,\u201d he said, using Biden\u2019s campaign slogan.
\n\u201cThe opportunity of this crisis in Pakistan is that we must build back better \u2014 greener, more climate-resilient \u2014 back home as well,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cI believe that working together we can do this.\u201d
\nPakistan, despite being the fifth most populous country, contributes only about 0.8 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions blamed for climate change due to its state of development.
\nThe US relationship with Pakistan sharply deteriorated over the course of the two-decade war in Afghanistan.
\n\u201cWe have had our differences \u2014 that\u2019s no secret,\u201d Blinken said.
\nBut he said Pakistan and the United States \u201chave a shared stake in Afghanistan\u2019s future\u201d, including greater freedoms for women and girls, whose rights have again been heavily curtailed by the Taliban.
\nBlinken also encouraged Pakistan to respect freedom of religion and expression.
\nPrime Minister Shehbaz Sharif\u2019s five-month-old government has faced criticism for restrictions on the media since he replaced Imran Khan.
\nBlinken also called on Pakistan to pursue a \u201cresponsible relationship\u201d with India.
\nDialogue has been at a standstill between the historic rivals.
\nImmediately after meeting Bilawal, Blinken was hosting a dinner for India\u2019s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, with whom he will hold talks on Tuesday.
\nThe South Asian foreign ministers were not expected to meet in Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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