Pakistan Joint Military Parade 2005. Credit: Pakistan Military.
By Rich Bowden
Australia has agreed to more than double the amount of Pakistani officers training in Australia to help the country counter extremism.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made the announcement at a Friends of Pakistan gathering in the United States prior to the Australian prime minister’s attendance of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh. Mr Rudd said his Government’s decision to bolster military training for members of Pakistan’s defence forces to 140 places makes it the second largest provider of military training to the country after the United States.
“The Australian Government has significantly increased its engagement with Pakistan over the past 20 months, including through increased defence and law enforcement cooperation,” he said in a statement.
Rudd added that, coupled with a firming of strategic defence cooperation, business links with the Australia-Pakistan Joint Trade Committee would be strengthened and development aid boosted.
The development increase would be funded through the Australia-Pakistan Development Partnership, said the release, which would focus on “…health reform, reconstruction of the disputed Malakand region, democratic governance and economic reform, as well as providing 100 agricultural scholarships,” according to the statement.
Prime Minister Rudd US Sec. of State Hillary Clinton, Mar. '09. Credit US State Department
Prime Minister Rudd also said delegates had approved funding for the reconstruction of the Malakand region in the north-west frontier province.
“The Summit endorsed the establishment of a multi-donor trust fund for Pakistan’s border areas, to be administered by the World Bank,” he said.
Taliban ‘threat’ to regional security
Pakistan received the full support of Australia, the United States and over twenty other countries as its confrontation with the Taliban continues. U.S. President Barack Obama told attendees at the summit that extremist Taliban pockets in the country pose a grave threat to regional and global stability.
“The violent extremists within Pakistan pose a threat to the region, to the United States, and to the world, ” Obama told the gathering.
“Just as we will help Pakistan strengthen the capacity that it needs to root out violent extremists, we are also committed to working with all of you to help Pakistan improve the basic services that its people depend upon: schools, roads, and hospitals,” he said.
Share on Facebook
Thanks for your article. One other thing is when you are selling your property by yourself, one of the difficulties you need to be conscious of upfront is how to deal with house inspection accounts. As a FSBO retailer, the key towards successfully transferring your property and saving money in real estate agent commissions is understanding. The more you already know, the smoother your home sales effort will probably be. One area when this is particularly important is reports.
incredible! Not clear for my family, how often you updating your blog?
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by globaleye and sremmah. sremmah said: Australia Strengthens Pakistan Military Ties http://bit.ly/1VglKa [...]