Shumaila Andleeb
ISLAMABAD, Sep 8 (APP): The United States will operate a massive humanitarian air bridge to Pakistan over the next 10 days to provide relief supplies to the flood-affected people, Counselor of the US State Department Derek Chollet said on Thursday.
Derek Chollet, the special aide to U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken, told APP that the U.S. remained steadfast in its support for affected communities across Pakistan through additional humanitarian assistance besides the already announced $30 million relief package.
Twenty U.S. C-17 military aircraft will land in Pakistan carrying the food and shelter material worth $2.2 million as critical humanitarian assistance for flood response.
Counselor Chollet, who led a U.S. interagency delegation to Pakistan, earlier in the day met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, and Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
Asked about the U.S. announcement to work with the United Nations to raise $160 million for flood victims, Chollet said the U.S. was approaching other countries and allies to meet the appeal of the UN Secretary-General.
He said the U.S. was committed to doing its part with its partners in the international community to help Pakistan respond to the terrible disaster.
“The U.S. wants to lead by example by helping the communities in Pakistan during difficult times,” he said.
The U.S. through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will coordinate with the local aid agencies for the distribution of relief goods and assistance.
Derek Chollet said the U.S. wanted to strengthen defence relationship with Pakistan and also had a good partnership on counter-terrorism.
On the State Department’s decision regarding sustainment of F-16 military aircraft, he termed it “an important step in the military relationship with Pakistan.”
He said the Pak-U.S. relationship was “broader and richer” encompassing trade, civil society and people-to-people relationship, flood relief, and reconstruction, and the largest Fulbright scholarship for students besides the bilateral and security ties.
On energy cooperation, he said the U.S. was helping Pakistan with the production of clean and green energy considering it a valuable future commodity for the globe.
He mentioned that as the U.S also suffered the brunt of climate change like wildfires, super storms, and drought, therefore it was committed to helping the countries like Pakistan to prevent such flood-like incidents happen again.
In commemoration of 75 years of diplomatic relations wth Pakistan, Counselor Chollet said his meetings with the Pakistani leadership and senior officials discussed a wide range of issues including improving trade and investment ties, defence ties, cooperation to mitigate the climate crisis, and expanding people-to-people connections.
