LAHORE — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's just-concluded visit to Islamabad — for the second session of the strategic dialogue that she and her Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, launched in Washington earlier this year — brought some comfort to her hosts. The United States promised to provide $500 million of funding for several "highly visible" projects in Pakistan. This was to be part of the $1.5 billion allocated to Pakistan in legislation signed by U.S. President Barack Obama last year.
The day before Clinton arrived in Islamabad, the Friends of Democratic Pakistan met there. An earlier meeting of the group was chaired by Obama on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session in New York last year. It was attended by then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain, the heads of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and government ministers from several countries.
At the Islamabad meeting, the FDP agreed to provide financing for Pakistan's energy-development program, and requested proposals from the Pakistanis for the development of other sectors considered vital for the economy.