The United States “remains committed to a strong,  mutually respectful” relationship with Pakistan and Washington’s civilian  assistance for the South Asian country has not been affected in the aftermath of  November 26 strikes on Pakistani borderposts, the State Department said Friday.

“We consider bilateral U.S. civilian assistance to be an important  component of that relationship and believe it can help Pakistan become a more  prosperous, stable, and democratic state, which serves the national interests of  both the United States and Pakistan,” the Office of Spokesperson Victoria Nuland  said in response to a question taken at the daily briefing.

“Civilian assistance to Pakistan continues and has not been interrupted  since the tragic November 26 incident,” the spokesperson noted.  The November 26 attacks on Pakistani checkposts claimed lives of two dozen  Pakistani soldiers, angering the Pakistani nation and the government. After the  incident, Islamabad closed NATO supply routes and initiated a full review of ties  with the United States, which is nearing its completion.

The State Department also noted that since the passage of the Kerry-Lugar- Berman legislation in October 2009, the U.S. government has disbursed $2.2 billion  in civilian assistance, including approximately $550 million in emergency  humanitarian assistance.
“In FY 2011 specifically, we disbursed approximately $855 million (not  including any emergency humanitarian assistance).  Our non-humanitarian civilian  assistance funds are spent in five priority sectors: energy, economic growth,  stabilization of the border regions, education, and health.

Notably, in 2011 the  people of the United States supported the construction of 210 kilometers of road in  FATA and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, funded the world’s largest Fulbright exchange program,  and sponsored initiatives promoting private sector growth and civil society  development in Pakistan.”
Earlier, spokesperson Nuland shared the view that Pakistan and the United  States should pursue broad-based bilateral relations.  It is “completely in sync with our view of the U.S.-Pakistani relationship,  that it should be broad and deep, that we have work to do together across the range  of issues, whether we’re talking about increasingly open society, economic things,  development things, and the full range of security issues.

So we would certainly  share the view that we have a lot to do together across the range of concerns,” she  remarked at the daily briefing.