U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price in Washington, D.C. Photo by Freddie Everett; Courtesy State Department
Pakistan’s democratically elected civilian government is the primary interlocutor in all bilateral discussions with the U.S., State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Tuesday.
Addressing a regular press briefing, the spokesperson said that while Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman had met Chief of Army Staff Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa during a visit to Washington last week, the civilian government was the “primary” point of contact.
“We have a number of shared interests with our Pakistani partners. There are security interests, there are economic interests, there are people-to-people ties and connections as well,” he said, adding Washington values its longstanding cooperation with Islamabad. “There are a number of areas where our interests are aligned. Of course, the stability and the future of Afghanistan, of the Afghan people, the security challenges that the region and potentially beyond face there always are on the agenda when we have high-level engagements with our Pakistani counterparts. We meet with and speak with them regularly on a range of issues,” he added.
Responding to a question, Price also dismissed speculation about misappropriation of flood relief funds, noting the U.S. closely monitors all aid it sends to disaster-hit regions. “This is something we take very seriously, not only in Pakistan but anywhere around the world where American taxpayer dollars are implicated and when there is an urgent humanitarian interest at stake, which is clearly the case, in terms of the response to the flooding in Pakistan,” he said.
“A couple examples of what we do to monitor and to ensure that we have adequate tracking mechanisms in this context. First, USAID staff—they make regular trips to monitor our programs in the field. We have what’s called a DART—a Disaster Assistance Response Team—and their members travel to more than 10 flood-affected districts in Balochistan, in Sindh province. They did so between—around mid-last month, so between Sept. 14 and Sept. 27—to assess not only the humanitarian conditions but also the response activities and to make sure that those response activities were meeting the humanitarian need,” he said.
“USAID partners work with local organizations that have extensive knowledge about the affected areas and their populations. We also are required to provide regular program updates on the progress of activities and any security concerns, and we require them—our partners—to immediately report any potential diversions, seizures, or losses immediately. So this is something we take very seriously,” he stressed.