After the floods, Blinken pushes Pakistan to seek debt relief from China.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken contacted Pakistan on Monday to ask its close ally China for debt forgiveness as floods ravaged the nation.
As Pakistan recovers from the floods, which drowned a third of the nation, an area the size of the United Kingdom, Blinken pledged resolute US help.
“We communicate clearly. In the same way that we were there for Pakistan through previous natural disasters, looking forward to reconstruct, “Blinken made this statement during talks with Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in Washington.
In order for Pakistan to recover from the floods more swiftly, Blinken added, “I also asked our colleagues to engage China on some of the crucial problems of debt relief and restructuring.”
With a $54 billion “economic corridor” that will create infrastructure and provide Beijing access to the Indian Ocean, China is a significant economic and political partner of Pakistan. However, Chinese interests have also come under attack from separatists.
Washington has frequently claimed that China will benefit while Pakistan will confront unmanageable debt as its Cold War partnership with Islamabad has deteriorated.
Pakistan has consistently dismissed the warnings from the United States, which sees China as its top rival on the international stage.
Over seven million people have been forced to flee their homes as a result of the floods in Pakistan, killing 1,600 people, one-third of them children, and raising concerns that more frequent, severe disasters will result from climate change.
The United States has pledged $56 million in humanitarian help and deployed 17 planes packed with supplies, along with commitments to provide ongoing support.
President Joe Biden, who signed a historic domestic climate bill last month, also needs to consider “climate justice,” according to Bhuto Zardari.
He continued, referencing Biden’s campaign slogan, “It’s not just critical that you ‘build back better’ here.
The opportunity presented by the situation in Pakistan, he continued, is for us to rebuild our own homes more sustainably and environmentally friendly.
We can accomplish this, I think, if we work together.Pakistan is fifth in terms of population, but due to its level of development, it only accounts for roughly 0.8% of the greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change.
Residual mistrust toward Afghanistan
Over the course of the two-decade war in Afghanistan, US relations with Pakistan significantly worsened.
The US believes Islamabad’s formidable military and intelligence apparatus never abandoned the Taliban, who swept back to power last year as US troops withdrew. Under intense pressure, Pakistan provided crucial logistical access, but officials in Islamabad believe that the country never abandoned the Taliban.
It’s no secret that we have disagreed, Blinken stated.
However, he asserted that Pakistan and the United States “have an interest in Afghanistan’s future,” which includes greater liberties for women and girls, whose rights have once more been severely restricted by the Taliban under their strict interpretation of Islam.
Blinken urged Pakistan to protect freedom of religion and expression, which has been a long-standing concern of the United States.
In Pakistan, blasphemy-related mob violence and attacks on religious minorities have occurred frequently.
Since replacing Imran Khan, who lost a no-confidence vote in parliament after clashing with the military, Shehbaz Sharif’s five-month-old government has come under fire for limitations on the media.
A “responsible partnership” between Pakistan and India was also urged by linken.
Since India launched airstrikes in response to a deadly attack that was attributed to militants supported by Pakistan in February 2019, communication between the long-standing foes has ceased.
Blinken hosted a dinner for India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who he will speak with on Tuesday, just after his meeting with Bhutto Zardari.
It was not anticipated that the foreign ministers of South Asia would gather in Washington.