Current Projects
Report: US has given Pakistan $33 billion in Economic and Security Assistance, including Coalition Support Funds as part of the Afghanistan Operational Budget, since 2002
Since 2002, the United States has provided Pakistan with additional economic and humanitarian assistance, totaling more than $11 billion that are neither specifically security-related, in or part of the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) budget that is used for Pakistan. While it is arguable that some of that US economic and humanitarian aid is used for security purposes, or is used to deal with the refugees and food insecurity caused by fighting in the border region, I do not count this assistance as part of the war effort and report here only the CRS numbers for security assistance. It is also plausible that most of that money — beyond that used for disaster assistance — would not have gone to Pakistan absent a war since the US was giving little or no aid to Pakistan prior to the 9/11 attacks. All told, Pakistan has received about $33 billion in economic and security assistance, including Coalition Support Funds as part of the Afghanistan operational budget, since 2002. There are three ways the US operates in Pakistan: Since 2001, the US has used Pakistan as an overland route for supplies to Afghanistan. The United States reimburses and compensates Pakistan for the use of its ports and overland transportation of food, fuel and military equipment through Pakistan en route to Afghanistan with Coalition Support Funds, which are included in the budget for OCO in Afghanistan. Since the start of the war in Afghanistan, the US provided about $15 billion in Coalition Support Funds to Pakistan. The Department of Defense describes the role of Coalition Support Funds as reimbursement for "expenses Pakistan incurs to conduct operations against al Qaeda and Taliban forces include providing logistical support for its forces, manning observation posts along the Afghanistan border, and conducting maritime interdiction operations and combat air patrols."[i] Pakistan is a zone of US military operations, including drone strikes and cross‐border attacks, against Al Qaeda, the...
China Willing to Finance Pakistan’s Portion of IP Pipeline
With Iran coming out of decades-long global economic isolation, China has offered Pakistan that it was willing to finance the un-built portion of a multibillion-dollar gas pipeline project. Officials told The Express Tribune that the China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau (CPPB) – currently engaged with the $1.4 billion Gwadar-Nawabshah LNG terminal and pipeline project – was keen to work on the remaining portion of the gas pipeline from Gwadar to the Iranian border to implement the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project. China was providing 85% of the total financing for the LNG pipeline project and wanted to emulate the same model for building the remaining portion of the pipeline from Gwadar up to the Iranian border. The IP gas pipeline project had been stalled due to international curbs against Tehran. But soon after lifting of the sanctions, the United States had imposed certain sanctions against Tehran that were hindering the implementation of the IP gas pipeline project. Officials said China had also expressed its desire to work on the remaining portion of the 80km pipeline from Gwadar to connect it with the Iranian border. China was lobbying to award the contract of this portion as per the cost decided for the Gwadar LNG pipeline. A senior government official said Pakistan was working on LNG import projects but LNG supply was not a secured source because in case of war, this supply source could be halted. He said this was the reason why the IP project was considered to be an essential as well as strategic project for Pakistan. “In case of some interruption in the supply of LNG, Pakistan will be able to get gas supply through the IP pipeline,” the official added. The other reason was that prices of steel and other material for gas pipelines had dropped over the years. During the last PPP government, Iran had decided to lay the IP pipeline by nominating an Iranian company. Iran had also pledged $500 million financing for the project. The offer of the Iranian company...
Indian Poverty Levels Higher Than Pakistan 's, Says UN Report
India, the world's second fastest growing economy, has been ranked as poorer than its blighted enemy Pakistan in a United Nations report on global poverty. The report also finds more 'gender equality' in conservative Pakistan than in 'tolerant' India. Its findings amount to a wake-up call for a nation which has taken great pride in its rapid economic growth and the increasing clout of its billionaire business leaders but has failed to share the spoils with its poor. Britain's Department for Internmational Development has pointed to this chequered progress to justify its continuing aid to India. The Human Development Report reveals that while India ranks slightly above Pakistan in its level of 'human development' – based on life expectancy, schooling and per capita income – its wider poverty level is worse than Pakistan's. In absolute terms, 41.6 per cent of India's 1.1 billion people earned less than 78 pence per day compared with 22.6 per cent of Pakistan's 173 million. The report quotes its 'multi-dimensional poverty index' which includes measures of schooling, child mortality, nutrition, access to electricity, toilets, drinking water, and hygienic living conditions, and reveals India is poorer. It found 53.7 per cent of Indians suffering from this broader kind of poverty, compared with 49 per cent of Pakistanis. More surprisingly, India is ranked below Pakistan and Bangladesh on gender equality which reflects maternal death rates, teenage pregnancies, access to education, and the number of women parliamentarians and in the workplace. India's rural development minister Jairam Ramesh said the report highlighted the prevalence of poverty in the midst of economic growth and the possibility that "actually economic development may lead to retrogression of social indices." Priya Subramanian of Save the Children said India's poor ranking reflected a lack of political will to tackle poverty. "It is things like healthcare and education which have India lagging behind...
Indian Poverty Levels Higher Than Pakistan ‘s, Says UN Report
India, the world's second fastest growing economy, has been ranked as poorer than its blighted enemy Pakistan in a United Nations report on global poverty. The report also finds more 'gender equality' in conservative Pakistan than in 'tolerant' India. Its findings amount to a wake-up call for a nation which has taken great pride in its rapid economic growth and the increasing clout of its billionaire business leaders but has failed to share the spoils with its poor. Britain's Department for Internmational Development has pointed to this chequered progress to justify its continuing aid to India. The Human Development Report reveals that while India ranks slightly above Pakistan in its level of 'human development' – based on life expectancy, schooling and per capita income – its wider poverty level is worse than Pakistan's. In absolute terms, 41.6 per cent of India's 1.1 billion people earned less than 78 pence per day compared with 22.6 per cent of Pakistan's 173 million. The report quotes its 'multi-dimensional poverty index' which includes measures of schooling, child mortality, nutrition, access to electricity, toilets, drinking water, and hygienic living conditions, and reveals India is poorer. It found 53.7 per cent of Indians suffering from this broader kind of poverty, compared with 49 per cent of Pakistanis. More surprisingly, India is ranked below Pakistan and Bangladesh on gender equality which reflects maternal death rates, teenage pregnancies, access to education, and the number of women parliamentarians and in the workplace. India's rural development minister Jairam Ramesh said the report highlighted the prevalence of poverty in the midst of economic growth and the possibility that "actually economic development may lead to retrogression of social indices." Priya Subramanian of Save the Children said India's poor ranking reflected a lack of political will to tackle poverty. "It is things like healthcare and education which have India lagging behind...
China and CPEC Implementation
The Chinese government is concerned whether projects related to the CPEC will ever be completed in the wake of a growing security threat to Chinese workers and the international difficulties faced by Pakistan. In order to convert existing challenges into opportunities, the Chinese government has activated its state-run think tanks to understand the undercurrents impeding consensus between the provincial and federal governments in Pakistan. As part of this campaign, two Pak-China think tank seminars were held, one each in Islamabad and Beijing, in September. Policymakers from both countries deliberated on the opportunities and challenges of the CPEC. Convinced about the win-win dimension of the CPEC for both countries, the Chinese have become sensitive about any valid or invalid criticism of the CPEC in our smaller provinces. They are reluctant to assume that the criticism in KP and Baltistan aims more at expanding economic benefits for these regions than targeting the CPEC per se. They are taking the political rhetoric and dynamics in the provincial capitals too seriously. Routine bureaucratic delays and inefficiencies are being seen as a calculated move to block the CPEC’s ‘early harvest projects’. Their other biggest worry is the concern about security cover for Chinese workers. They quote how many Chinese workers have been killed, kidnapped or fired at in Balochistan and Sindh in the last three years. They worry that the security situation is likely to deteriorate further. Three factors in their view are not to be ignored in this context: a) the Afghan Taliban are surging in Afghanistan and, therefore, may feel embolden to carry out violent acts in Pakistan; b) India has been providing funds for destabilising Balochistan and no respite is in the offing; and c) American global agenda to prop up India against Pakistan and China will not falter any soon. The net outcome is likely to exacerbate insecurity, not ruling out barbaric violent incidence. While both sides...
The Beginning of Trade Via CPEC; A Historic Moment
Launching of the multi-billion dollar project China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in 2014 by the two ‘all-weather’ friends has been hailed as a “game-changer” for Pakistan and the entire region. The 3,218 kilometer trade route will connect Kashgar in western China with Gwadar port in Pakistan. After coming into operation, it will provide shorter route for Chinese exports and imports by slashing the current distance of 16,000 km to mere 5,000 km.[1] In addition to attracting the flow of Chinese imports and exports, CPEC is set to bring massive investments, develop energy and industrial infrastructure and creation of thousands of jobs in Pakistan. That historic moment arrived on Monday when hundreds of Chinese trucks loaded with goods entered Sost dry port in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and formally operationalized CPEC.[2] Forty-five of the Chinese containers left for Gwadar port after getting clearance from the custom authorities. The remaining containers will be moved once such clearance is given.[3] Chief Minister of GB Hafeezur Rehman and Force Command Northern Areas Maj Gen Saqib Mahmud Malik attended the inaugural ceremony. Chief Minister said that CPEC will change the fate of GB and that one thousand Chinese containers will pass every week through Karakoram highway. This analysis is written by Abdur Rehman Shah, Research Associate at the Center for Research and Security Studies. [1] Ebrahim, Zofeen T., (2016, May 12). China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: a boon for the economy, a bane for the locals. Retrieved on November 2, 2016, from http://www.dawn.com/news/1236159 [2] Mir, Shabbir, (2016, November 1). First Chinese Shipment rolls into Sost dry port. Retrieved on November 3, 2016, from http://tribune.com.pk/story/1216912/first-chinese-shipment-rolls-sost-dry-port-g-b/ [3] Nagri, Jamil, (2016, November 1). First trade activity kicks off under CPEC. Retrieved on November 3, 2016 from...
Taking On Militants: A Fight For The Soul Of Pakistan
Two high-level meetings in recent months involving senior military commanders and intelligence officials and/or top-level government representatives spotlight Pakistan’s difficulty in coming to grips with domestic and regional political violence resulting from decades of support of militant Islamist and jihadist groups for foreign policy and ideological reasons. Overcoming those difficulties could determine Pakistan’s future, the nature of its society and its place in the world. The first of those meeting was a gathering in August of Pakistani military commanders in the wake of a massive bombing in Quetta that killed some 70 people and wiped out a generation of lawyers in the province of Baluchistan. The commanders concluded that the attack constituted a sinister foreign-inspired plot that aimed to thwart their effort to root out political violence. Their analysis stroked with their selective military campaign aimed at confronting specific groups like the Pakistani Taliban and the Sunni-Muslim Lashkar-e-Jhangvi rather than any organization that engages in political violence and/or targets minorities. The commanders’ approach failed to acknowledge the real lesson of Quetta: decades of Pakistani military and intelligence support underwritten by funding from Saudi Arabia for sectarian and ultra-conservative groups and religious schools in Pakistan that has divided the country almost irreversibly. Generations of religious students have their critical faculties stymied by rote learning and curricula dominated by memorization of exclusionary beliefs and prejudice resulting in bigotry and misogyny woven into the fabric of Pakistani society. “The enemy within is not a fringe... Large sections of society sympathize with these groups. They fund them, directly and indirectly. They provide them recruits. They reject the Constitution and the system. They don’t just live in the ‘bad lands’ but could be our neighbours. The forces have not only to operate in areas in the...
Democracy There and Here?
Lust for political power, permit, patronage and privileges stand out as the hallmark of a democracy (or the absence of it). This is in sharp contrast to most functional democracies, where political power fundamentally means passion, prestige, preservation of the rule of law and humility. There, most leading political leaders and generals alike go back to their modest two or three room apartments, often driving themselves, once their term finishes. Here, an army of police and para-military lead and tail our politicians — even if out of office, living in mansions to match the prowess of Arab sheikhs. There, retiring presidents and prime ministers create think tanks, educational foundations and social issue advocacy centres for the collective good and welfare. Here, our leading lights end up beefing up their personal accounts and doubling (I am being modest) their private businesses. There, it is considered a conflict of interest. Here, it is considered privilege and smartness to use the official office for raising personal finances and business stakes. There, ministers and members of parliament resign if caught overspending public money or unauthorised spending. Here, our prime ministers and their deputies dole out public money to cronies, journalists and PR firms — directly or through Pakistani diplomatic missions. Here, a Nawaz League associate thinks that roughly Rs100,000, that a three or four members of a family earn at his factory, is more than they need. Contrast this situation with the same amount going into a family dinner for the same gentleman at a 5-star hotel in Pakistan itself. There, the fear of accountability and the certainty of punishment deters heads of governments and their ministers from any unauthorized expense. Here, our ruling elites dig into public kitty to shower favours on friends, media henchmen, and bureaucrats. Bhuttos, Zardaris, Sharifs, and Generals alike have been doing this; feting cronies and media czars in Washington, London,...
UN Demands Afghanistan End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists
Media defenders in Afghanistan say at least 11 journalists have died and hundreds more forced to flee from fighting in the first 10 months of 2016, making it the deadliest year for the country. The Afghan Journalists Safety Committee, a local media watchdog, says more than 60 journalists have been killed in the country in the past 16 years and authorities never investigated those deaths. "The cycle of violence and impunity in Afghanistan has been a longstanding challenge, but has been particularly troubling for journalists over the course of the last year," says Pernille Dahler Kardel of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). She told a seminar Wednesday in Kabul that local watchdogs have reported to UNAMA that hundreds of Afghan male and female reporters have been forced to flee the conflict zone in the past year. But Kardel asserted that conflict-related situations are not the only real threat to journalists, citing intimidation and harassment as other sources, particularly in cases in which journalists tried to tell corruption stories. "Impunity emboldens perpetrators and feeds into a vicious cycle. Fear and self-censorship among the media are real issues that end up denying the public the right to information and diminishing confidence in the rule of law." The UNAMA official praised the Afghan government for issuing new legislation and declaring its commitment to fight impunity for crimes against journalists. But she echoed demands by local media monitors for addressing the culture of impunity through effective implementation of laws. Kardel was speaking to mark the U.N. International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists This article originally appeared on www.voanews.com, 02, November, 2016. Original link. Disclaimer: Views expressed in the article are not necessarily supported by CRSS.
Afghanistan's Corruption Epidemic Is Wasting Billions in Aid
When I worked as an adviser to the Afghanistan government, even the smallest of infrastructure projects became politicised and overshadowed by corruption. When the ministry wanted to provide clean water to villagers, it was sometimes only possible if private companies belonging to local power brokers – usually MPs, district administrators or police chiefs – were given the construction contracts. If they didn’t win the bid, they would take their share through extortion. Sometimes, the ministry’s facilitating partners lost their machinery, or found them on fire while working on our road projects because they hadn’t paid a bribe to the armed groups that controlled the project area. My ministry, the ministry of rural development, was the most important arm of government. We were involved in nearly 35,000 of the roughly 40,000 villages across the country. In the process, we provided around 70% of Afghans with vital infrastructure, such as midwife clinics, schools, waterworks, bridges, roads, women’s training centres, or solar power projects. This was genuinely important work for genuinely needy people – and yet it was often disrupted by the corruption of the political class, who would, one way or another, find a way of getting their hands on the money. And where was the money was coming from? It came from the pockets of the taxpayers in EU, UK, US, Canada, and Australia. I have since left Afghanistan, but I was recently reminded of my former life when European leaders gathered in Brussels to give $3bn (£2.45bn) to Afghanistan. The UK alone announced £750m in aid for the coming three years. As a former government official, and a former UN staffer in Afghanistan, I have concerns about how this money will be spent. What safeguards are in place to ensure that the money benefits Afghans? Will a farmer in a remote village benefit from these donations after they seep through various corrupted layers of government? Will it help a deported asylum seeker to build a new life? I...
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I am also a member of National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting. Recently, we held a meeting with the Director General of Radio Pakistan and we told them to initiate such local programs (like Constituency Hour) in regional languages to educate and inform people. Even Indian Radio can be heard in FATA which is being used for propaganda purposes and must be closed. Therefore, we should launch some standard and quality programs like CRSS that will change the taste of the listeners.