US says eyeing sustained aid for Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (Pajhwok): Strongly refuting reports of a drastic reduction in aid, the Obama Administration Thursday said it will seek sustained level of economic and civilian assistance for Afghanistan, which would be at or near the level of the past one decade.

Senior administration officials denied that there would be drastic reduction in US aid to Afghanistan as a result of the recent Congressional decision to nearly half the US civilian assistance.

Noting that the Obama Administration is still reviewing the legislation passed by the US Congress, officials asserted it would ensure that America’s vital national interests in Afghanistan are protected.

“The United States has sacrificed a great deal to bring about the progress we have seen in Afghanistan over the past decade, and we are committed to protecting those advances,” a State Department spokesperson told Pajhwok Afghan News.  

“For these reasons we did seek and will continue to seek sustained levels of economic assistance for Afghanistan at or near the levels the United States has provided over the past decade. We also recognize that our assistance levels to Afghanistan will and should come down, as Afghans increasingly build a sustainable economy,” the spokesperson said.

In the fiscal, the Obama Administration had requested foreign assistance request of nearly $2.2 billion for Afghanistan, which it argued will protect the development achievements of the last decade while supporting its core goal of disrupting, dismantling, and defeating al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and its capacity to threaten America and US allies in the future.

State Department officials said it would soon come out with the new aid figures.

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