''US energy task force to meet in October'': US to issue visas from Karachi, says Holbrooke

Announcing a "major turn" in its relations with Pakistan, President Obama-led US government on Wednesday announced to start issuing 100 business visas per week from Karachi and a three-pronged strategy to help Islamabad resolve the "complex problem" of energy shortage.
"I announce here that US would begin giving 100 visas per week to the business community (in Karachi)... the economic and commercial hub of your great nation," said Richard Holbrooke, US President''s Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, while addressing a press conference here at a hotel.
Flanked by Deputy Chief of Mission, Feirstein, and Ambassador Robin Raphel, the US envoy said his country, under President Obama, had brought "a major turn" in its ties with Pakistan, the stress of which would now be on the needs of all Pakistanis instead of Swat, Buner and other border areas. "We are committed to helping you on the issues like, as you have told us, the energy," Holbrooke said.
He said that from next year Washington would also restore the consul services to its consuls-general in the country, which, according to him, has a growth-oriented private sector and a "resilient economy with many opportunities".
The envoy said US was prepared to help Pakistan in addressing the issue of energy shortfall, a "complex problem" that had developed over many years and was taking a heavy toll on the socio-economic fabric of the crises-hit country. "Pakistan needs to prepare a plan for catering its energy needs" through harnessing various alternative resources, like hydel power, he added.
The US envoy said his government was working on a three-pronged, short-, medium- and long-term, strategy to solve energy crisis in Pakistan, which, according to him, could not be resolved through magical powers. Holbrooke said as a first step a team of American experts, called Pakistan Energy Task Force (PETF), would hold a joint meeting with local energy officials and other stakeholders in October this year in Islamabad to find remedial ways to the crisis. "We are working to develop a business plan for energy sector," he said.
Washington would also seek the help of financial institutions in US and abroad, like US Trade and Development Agency, IMF, ADB, World Bank etc, in making considerable efforts to help recover Pakistani energy sector. "We are committed to grow the economy and create jobs (in Pakistan)... and private sector would be critical in these efforts," Holbrooke said.
Terming Balochistan a "concern for all", the US official said that, through not directly involved, his government would carefully "watch" the violence-stricken province, where rising tension might affect Pak-Afghan ties. He said that his government was not expecting a "perfect election" in Afghanistan on August 20. However, thousands of local and international observers along with around 700 to 800 registered journalists would keep an eye on the democratic process.
Having "no idea" about a deadline for the ongoing Afghan war, Holbrooke said that US, along with 40 other nations, was fighting a "completely legal and legitimate" war in the militancy-hit country.
He also disapproved a purely military solution to the war against terrorism, saying that the terrorists were a common challenge for, and equal threat to, Pakistan, Afghanistan and US. About Washington''s role in ensuring a long-awaited return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, the envoy came with the assurance that his government would work on the humanitarian problem, which it had inherited.