Peshawar, December 17, 2009 - In a ceremony held today in Mingora, U.S. Ambassador Anne W. Patterson and USAID Mission Director Robert Wilson signed a $36 million agreement with NWFP Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti to support relief and reconstruction of the Malakand Division. The money will help the NWFP Government rebuild health clinics and water supply systems across Swat, Buner, and Upper and Lower Dir Districts. A portion of the funds will be used to rehabilitate, construct, and equip schools. The agreement also includes support for the NWFP Government's design and monitoring initiative for their development projects.
"People in the Malakand Division have overcome militancy at great cost to their families, their incomes, and their communities," said Ambassador Anne Patterson. "The United States has tremendous respect for the strength of the Pakistani people and we support them as they rebuild their communities."
With this donation, the United States Government has given more than $340 million in assistance to NWFP over the past year. Previous U.S. donations have provided food, as well as health, education, water assistance to people displaced by the operations. The U.S. has also donated $44 million to support of the Government's IDP cash support program, which assists internally displaced Pakistanis as they rebuild their lives.