When U.S. President Barack Obama unveils his fiscal 2016 foreign aid budget request next week, one of the big questions will be whether his administration stays the course in its massive reductions in development assistance to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Battered by allegations of corruption and mismanagement, the U.S. Agency for International Development’s programs in Afghanistan and Pakistan are two of the largest in its portfolio.
By most accounts, the election of a new unity government in Kabul last year has revived some measure of confidence among U.S. officials that post-drawdown Afghanistan can still be regarded as a steady and reliable development partner.
In the case of Pakistan, however, there are fewer palpable signs of optimism two years after the country held its own historic transfer of power. Early this month, the U.S. State Department denied reports that it had issued the anti-terrorism certifications for the Pakistani government, which are needed for the disbursal of a large chunk of fiscal 2014 assistance to Pakistan.