Pakistani-Afghan trade deal announced during Clinton visit
By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 18, 2010
ISLAMABAD -- Like an anxious matchmaker nudging a nervous couple together, the Obama administration has persuaded Afghanistan and Pakistan to take their first tangible step toward bilateral cooperation -- a trade agreement that will facilitate the ground shipment of goods between and through the two countries.
The accord has been under negotiation for years; Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari promised President Obama more than a year ago that it would be completed by the end of 2009. During marathon talks between the two sides that began last week, U.S. officials helped forge a deal in time to announce it Sunday night, just hours after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived for a two-day visit.
On Monday, Clinton and the Pakistanis will unveil their own bilateral agreement to spend an initial $500 million in new U.S. economic assistance to Pakistan. Primarily for water and energy projects, the aid is part of a $7.5 billion, five-year development package approved by Congress last fall.
The trade and aid agreements are part of the administration's ongoing efforts to facilitate President Obama's struggling Afghanistan war strategy. It hopes that a long-term investment here, along with repeated visits from senior officials, will convince Pakistan to more solidly align its own interests with those of the United States.
(More here.)
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 18, 2010
ISLAMABAD -- Like an anxious matchmaker nudging a nervous couple together, the Obama administration has persuaded Afghanistan and Pakistan to take their first tangible step toward bilateral cooperation -- a trade agreement that will facilitate the ground shipment of goods between and through the two countries.
The accord has been under negotiation for years; Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari promised President Obama more than a year ago that it would be completed by the end of 2009. During marathon talks between the two sides that began last week, U.S. officials helped forge a deal in time to announce it Sunday night, just hours after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived for a two-day visit.
On Monday, Clinton and the Pakistanis will unveil their own bilateral agreement to spend an initial $500 million in new U.S. economic assistance to Pakistan. Primarily for water and energy projects, the aid is part of a $7.5 billion, five-year development package approved by Congress last fall.
The trade and aid agreements are part of the administration's ongoing efforts to facilitate President Obama's struggling Afghanistan war strategy. It hopes that a long-term investment here, along with repeated visits from senior officials, will convince Pakistan to more solidly align its own interests with those of the United States.
(More here.)
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