US envoy vows economic help for Pakistan

August 20, 2009 07:11:10 AM

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US envoy Richard Holbrooke vowed Wednesday to help Pakistan deal with its crushing energy crisis and provide economic assistance, a key part of Washington's strategy to fight Islamist militancy.

US President Barack Obama's troubleshooter for Afghanistan and Pakistan said that the Muslim neighbours and the United States faced a "common enemy" in Islamist extremists, and hailed a recent military push against the Taliban.

Holbrooke goes on to Afghanistan on Thursday for its elections, overshadowed by a surge in Taliban attacks.

He has been in Pakistan since Saturday and has been at pains to emphasise improved ties between the two countries, as a recent survey showed that most Pakistanis still viewed the United States with deep mistrust.

"We have made a major turn in our relations with Pakistan under President Barack Obama," said Holbrooke, telling a press conference in economic hub Karachi that their focus was not only on battling the Taliban.

"We are now stressing the needs of all Pakistani people, to put an emphasis on what you have told us is your number one concern: energy," he said.

Pakistan faces a crippling energy crisis, as it is only able to produce about 80 percent of the electricity it needs, causing debilitating blackouts and suffocating industry.

Holbrooke said that Washington was setting up a task force of experts to help Pakistan deal with the crisis and was in talks with international financial institutions to provide the South Asian nation with economic help.

He also said the US consulate in Karachi would begin issuing 100 business visas a week for Pakistanis.

Holbrooke again praised recent gains against the Taliban in the northwest, where Pakistan claims to have cleared fighters from three districts around the Swat valley after launching a fierce offensive in late April.

On Wednesday he said the battle against extremists was "a different kind of war with a different kind of enemy that straddles the border of the two countries and poses equal threats to Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States."

"Its a common enemy," he said.

The special envoy on Tuesday met with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, who urged the United States to help open up US and European markets to Pakistani goods, a statement from Zardari's office said.

A survey by the US-based Pew Research Center released last week showed that only 16 percent of Pakistanis had a favourable view of the United States, with 64 percent viewing the country as their enemy.

Obama has pledged to help root out extremism in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with a focus on economic development of the nuclear-armed Muslim nation.

American lawmakers have introduced a bill that would triple US civilian aid for Pakistan to 7.5 billion dollars spread over the next five years.