"Disengaging now would undermine our military and political efforts and the national security interests of the United States," the US Secretary of State said. –Photo by AFP

WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a message released on Friday, has urged the US Congress to continue providing financial assistance to Pakistan and warned that disengaging at this stage would undermine America’s national security interests.

Secretary Clinton’s message to Congress accompanies a status report on Pakistan and Afghanistan from the State Department, which also strongly endorses America’s continued engagement with both countries.

“In Pakistan, it means leveraging the resources provided by the landmark Kerry Lugar-Berman legislation to address major economic challenges that threaten Pakistan’s stability,” the secretary said.

“Our civilian efforts were never designed to solve all of Afghanistan’s development challenges or to completely turn around Pakistan’s economy. But they do aim to give Afghans and Pakistanis a stake in their countries’ futures and undercut the appeal of insurgency,” she noted.

Secretary Clinton reminded US lawmakers that this strategy was rooted in a lesson “we have learned over and over again — lasting stability and security go hand in hand with economic opportunity”.

That’s why, she added, it was critical that civilian assistance continued in both Afghanistan and Pakistan as “disengaging now would undermine our military and political efforts and the national security interests of the United States”.

The report — “Afghanistan and Pakistan civilian engagement” — reaffirms the Obama administration’s “intent of the KLB authorisation in its commitment to providing robust, multi-year civilian assistance to Pakistan”.

In the report to Congress, the Obama administration insisted that it would continue to provide civilian aid to Pakistan, which has fallen from $1.5 billion in the 2010 fiscal year to $1.1 billion this year. The US media, however, noted that next year’s levels were uncertain, as American lawmakers seek to reduce foreign assistance, particularly to Pakistan.

In a bid to dissuade the lawyers from doing so, the State Department reminded them that “a positive and productive relationship with Pakistan” was necessary to achieving the “core goal of disrupting, dismantling and defeating al Qaeda”.