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India Today
25-04-2025
- Business
- India Today
Indus Waters Treaty paused. Is Mangla Dam first casualty of diplomatic war with Pak?
In a massive diplomatic move against Pakistan, India has suspended the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 — a step taken in retaliation for the Pahalgam terrorist attack of April 22. One of the first casualties of the diplomatic war may be Pakistan's grand Mangla Dam, located on the Jhelum river in the Mirpur district of Pakistan-occupied Mangla project began in 1961 after Pakistan and India signed the treaty. That gave Pakistan rights to three rivers in India: the Jhelum, the Chenab and the Indus, according to the Institution of Civil Engineers. Mangla was the first of two dams built to strengthen Pakistan's ability to irrigate its crops. The other was the Tarbela dam on the Indus. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Mangla is the world's 11th-largest dam based on Pakistan began renovating this dam in August 2013, and the work was completed in September 2024, according to the US State Department's Office of Foreign Assistance. The US assisted Pakistan with the Mangla Dam Rehabilitation Project. The project focused on modernising and increasing the power generation capacity of the Mangla Hydropower Plant. Of the overall foreign assistance of $232 million that Pakistan received from the US in 2024, nearly $50 million was for completing this project. US Funds to Pakistan have been the lowest in 22 years. Fall in US assistance for PakistanWhile the US has been a strong source of financial support for Pakistan, both in terms of military and economic assistance, the trend has significantly changed in recent years. Financial support for peace and security has especially taken a funds for the peace and security category are aimed towards six areas: weapons of mass destruction; conflict mitigation and reconciliation; counterterrorism; stabilisation operations and security sector reform; counternarcotics; general security; and transnational crime. The assistance in all these areas has decreased in recent years. US funding to Pakistan's military is in a downward spiral. With a severe hit on new and expensive hydropower projects, at a time when foreign assistance to Pakistan is seeing a declining trend, the diplomatic offensive has hit the country where it would hurt the InTrending Reel
Fox News
05-03-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Internal State Dept memo reveals top brass question if feds should be 'in the business of philanthropy'
FIRST ON FOX: Top brass at the Department of State are questioning if the U.S. government's role should include working "in the philanthropy business" as the Trump administration uncovers a trove of mismanagement and overspending in recent years. "No one will argue with the philanthropic nature of foreign assistance," Pete Marocco, the director of the Office of Foreign Assistance — which sits under the State Department's federal umbrella — said to a group of faith-based organizations Friday. "So, this leads to another question I put before you today. Is it the proper role of government to be in the business of philanthropy?" "If U.S. foreign aid is only reaching 10% of its intended target, and the private sector is reaching the right people 87% of the time, this is a fundamental, age-old question we must return to and take seriously," he continued. "It's imperative for foreign assistance to land in the right hands of the right people for the right reasons." Marocco's comments were detailed in an internal State Department memo obtained by Fox News Digital that recapped a meeting between government officials and a group of roughly 25 faith-based organizations, which worked to engage the organizations in a "candid discussion about how their work supports and enhances U.S. foreign assistance goals under the America First framework." The "listening session" meeting was invitation-only and moderated by Albert T. Gombis, acting under secretary for civilian security, democracy and human rights, and director of global criminal justice, Fox Digital learned. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Chair Elon Musk and the Trump administration have been on a warpath in recent weeks against the United States Agency for International Development's history of reported overspending and mismanagement. USAID is an independent U.S. agency that was established under the Kennedy administration to administer economic aid to foreign nations. Musk has characterized the agency as "a viper's nest of radical-left marxists who hate America." In January, President Donald Trump issued a near-total freeze on foreign aid through the agency and has since terminated thousands of employees and appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the agency's acting director, moves that have received staunch pushback from Democrats and federal employees. The freeze on payments was hit with lawsuits, with the Supreme Court Wednesday dealing a blow to the administration when it denied its request to block a lower court's ruling for the administration to pay nearly $2 billion in foreign aid money. In a 5–4 ruling, the justices said a Feb. 26 deadline imposed by a lower court for the Trump administration to pay the funds already had expired, and directed the case back to the district court to clarify any additional details on payment. The internal State Department memo continued that Marocco explained to the group of faith-based organizations that the Trump administration is "intentionally disrupting the system to identify and root out significant problems" with its foreign aid programs. "As you know, we're in the midst of conducting a review of U.S. foreign aid programs," the memo said of the director's opening remarks. "It's challenging because we're taking a very different approach from other reviews. Our review is starting from zero – a zero-based methodology. That means we are intentionally disrupting the system to identify and root out significant problems. Yes, this is causing unintended consequences for some programs, and those issues are being addressed separate from this forum." "The truth is: the American people have lost faith in foreign assistance. They've lost faith in how we carry out this work. Nevertheless, today you're here to think big and tell us how foreign assistance can be optimally effective," he added. Trump went to Capitol Hill Tuesday evening to deliver his first address to a joint session of Congress since returning to the White House in January. In the speech, Trump celebrated his administration's immediate pause to foreign aid. "Every day my administration is fighting to deliver the change America needs to bring a future that America deserves, and we're doing it," Trump said Tuesday evening. 'This is a time for big dreams and bold action. Upon taking office, I imposed an immediate freeze on all federal hiring, a freeze on all new federal regulations and a freeze on all foreign aid." The 47th president continued in his speech that Musk and DOGE have identified $22 billion in government "waste" across various federal agencies, including USAID. "Forty-five million dollars for diversity, equity and inclusion scholarships in Burma," Trump said as he rattled off various examples of federal waste. "Forty million to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants. Nobody knows what that is. Eight million to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of. Sixty million dollars for indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombian empowerment in Central America. Sixty million. Eight million for making mice transgender." Democrats and government employees have railed against the Trump administration and DOGE's work auditing the federal government, and some Democratic lawmakers even held up signs reading "Musk lies" during Trump's address Tuesday.
