US seeks Pakistan aid for Afghans
THE African Development Bank said it was at the forefront of climate change and was ready to ensure that the voices of 54 African countries were heard.
The bank plans to pursue its advocacy work in helping African countries address climate change and begin their transitions towards green growth and low-carbon development.
Bank vice-president Amadou Hott is leading a delegation of climate change experts in various fields – including water and sanitation, transport, urbanisation and sustainable cities – who will shed light on the diversity and complexity of the issues raised by climate change.
Events will include several conferences and daily round tables throughout the two-week programme.
Africa is especially vulnerable to climate change as evidenced in last year’s drought in East Africa and the drought South Africa experienced this year. PAKISTAN said yesterday that US President Donald Trump has sought its help with faltering Afghan peace talks in a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan, part of intensifying efforts by Trump to end one of America’s longest wars.
Trump asked for Pakistan’s “support and facilitation” in negotiating an end to the war and offered to renew the strained relationship, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said.
The overture to Khan represents a sea change from Trump’s normally harsh rhetoric towards Pakistan, and will add to growing speculation that the US is planning to pull out of Afghanistan in the near future.
Trump wants to bring to a close the 17-year-old conflict between Afghan security forces and the Taliban, who are fighting to drive out international forces and re-establish their version of strict Islamic law after their 2001 ouster.
US officials have long been pushing Pakistan to lean on Taliban leaders, who Washington says are based inside Pakistan, to bring them to the negotiating table.
“He has asked for Pakistan’s co-operation to bring the Taliban into talks,” Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said.
Trump has been open about his desire to bring home about 14 000 US troops who remain in Afghanistan as part of Resolute Support and a separate counter-terrorism mission aimed against militant groups such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State.
“President Trump has also acknowledged that the war had cost both US and Pakistan.
“He has emphasised that Pakistan and US should explore opportunities to work together and renew partnership,” the foreign ministry said.
The ministry added that Pakistan was committed to playing “a facilitation role in good faith. Peace and stability in Afghanistan remain a shared responsibility.”
Officially allies in fighting terrorism, Pakistan and the US have a complicated relationship, bound by Washington’s dependence on Pakistan to supply its troops in Afghanistan but plagued by accusations Islamabad is playing a double game.
Last month, Trump said in an interview that Pakistan doesn’t “do a damn thing” for the US despite billions of dollars in US aid, adding that Pakistani officials knew of former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s location before his killing by US troops in a 2011 raid inside Pakistan.
Khan hit back by saying the US should not blame Pakistan for its failings in Afghanistan.
Pakistani officials, who deny offering safe havens to the Afghan Taliban, say their influence on the group has waned over the years.
Last week, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he had formed a 12-strong team to negotiate peace with the Taliban, but warned that implementation of any deal would take at least five years.