US congressional delegation concludes visit to Pakistan

United States Senator John McCain, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman, leading a delegation including Senator Lindsey Graham, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator David Perdue, concluded his visit to Pakistan on Monday.

According to a press release issued by the US Embassy in Islamabad, the Senators thanked their Pakistani hosts for their hospitality.

During their visit to Pakistan the Senate delegation took an aerial tour of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and was able to see some of the infrastructure projects built with American assistance.

In December 2016, the Embassy signed an agreement to provide over 8.5 billion rupees for the Kurram Tangi dam project in North Waziristan. Through the USAID grant more than 16,000 acres of farmland will be irrigated, enough to benefit 100,000 people, and when the overall project is complete the dam will produce 18.4 megawatts of electricity.

Also with United States government assistance, last year the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa completed the Rs 7.5 billion Gomal Zam irrigation project, which will generate 17.4 megawatts of electricity, irrigate 191,000 acres in Tank and Dera Ismail Khan Districts, while increasing business, trade, and jobs for 30,000 households.

To date, the American government has also provided 9.9 billion rupees in supporting law enforcement personnel in FATA, across a wide range of projects, including the Rupees 1.4 billion Takhta Baig – Mattani road completed in August 2016 and construction of more than 100 border outposts and defensive structures to support the Government of Pakistan in their counter-terrorism operations.