Taliban officials say Pakistan airstrikes in Afghanistan kill 46

JACOBABAD: In Pakistan’s hottest city, fresh and filtered water can quench the searing onslaught of climate change — but US President Donald Trump’s foreign aid freeze threatens its vital supply, an NGO says.
Sun-parched Jacobabad city in southern Sindh province sometimes surpasses 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in increasing heatwaves causing critical health problems like dehydration and heat-stroke.
In 2012, USAID committed a $66 million grant to uplift Sindh’s municipal services, including the flagship renovation of a plant pumping and purifying water from a canal 22 kilometers (14 miles) away.
But Pakistani non-profit HANDS says Trump’s aid embargo has blocked $1.5 million earmarked to make the scheme viable in the long-term, putting the project at risk “within a few months.”
“This has transformed our lives,” 25-year-old Tufail Ahmed told AFP in Jacobabad, where wintertime temperatures are already forecast to pass 30C next week.
“If the water supply is cut off it will be very difficult for us,” he added. “Survival will be challenging, as water is the most essential thing for life.”
Between September and mid-January Sindh saw rainfall 52 percent below average according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, with “moderate drought” predicted in the coming months.
Heatwaves are becoming hotter, longer and more frequent due to climate change, scientists say.
The project pipes in 1.5 million gallons (5.7 million liters) daily and serves about 350,000 people in Jacobabad, HANDS says — a city where grinding poverty is commonplace.
HANDS said it discovered Trump’s 90-day freeze on foreign assistance through media reports with no prior warning.
“Since everything is just suspended we have to withdraw our staff and we have to withdraw all services for this water project,” HANDS CEO Shaikh Tanveer Ahmed told AFP.
Forty-seven staff, including experts who manage the water purification and service the infrastructure, have been sent home.
The service will likely stop functioning “within the next few months,” Ahmed predicted, and the project will be “a total failure” unless another funder steps in.
The scheme is currently in the hands of the local government who lack the technical or revenue collection expertise HANDS was developing to fund the supply from bill payments, rather than donations.
The international aid community has been in a tailspin over Trump’s campaign to downsize or dismantle swathes of the US government — led by his top donor and the world’s richest man Elon Musk.
The most concentrated fire has been on Washington’s aid agency USAID, whose $42.8 billion budget represents 42 percent of humanitarian aid disbursed worldwide.
But it accounts for only between 0.7 and 1.4 percent of total US government spending in the last quarter century, according to the Pew Research Center.
Trump has claimed USAID is “run by radical lunatics” while Musk has described it as a “criminal organization” needing to be put “through the woodchipper.”
In Jacobabad, 47-year-old local social activist Abdul Ghani pleaded for its work to continue.
“If the supply is cut off it will severely affect the public,” he said. “Poverty is widespread here and we cannot afford alternatives.”
Residents complain the Jacobabad supply is patchy but still describe it as an invaluable service in a city where the alternative is buying water from private donkey-drawn tankers.
Eighteen-year-old student Noor Ahmed said before “our women had to walk for hours” to collect water.
HANDS says the private tankers have a monthly cost of up to 10 times more than their rate of 500 rupees ($1.80) and often contain contaminants like arsenic.
“The dirty water we used to buy was harmful to our health and falling ill would cost us even more,” said 55-year-old Sadruddin Lashari.
“This water is clean. The supply cannot be stopped,” he added.
Pakistan — home to more than 240 million people — ranks as the nation most affected by climate change, according to non-profit Germanwatch’s Climate Risk Index released this year and analizing data from 2022.
That year a third of the country was inundated by unprecedented monsoon floods killing more than 1,700 and causing an estimated $14.9 billion in damages after a punishing summer heatwave.
Jacobabad’s water system also suffered heavy damage in the 2010 floods which killed almost 1,800 and affected 21 million.
Pakistan produces less than one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions which scientists say are driving human-made climate change.
Islamabad has consistently called for countries which emit more to contribute to aid for its population suffering on the front line of climate change.
“It’s incredibly hot here year-round,” said Lashari. “We need water constantly.”

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb this week met senior officials of Saudi Arabia’s Wafi Energy Pakistan and Asyad Holdings group, promising to facilitate foreign investors via fostering a business-friendly environment in the country, the Finance Division said. 

Wafi Energy, an affiliate of the Asyad Group, made huge investments in Pakistan when it became the majority shareholder of Shell Pakistan Limited (SPL) in November last year. The Saudi group now holds approximately 87.78 percent of the total issued share capital of SPL. 

Aurangzeb met Ghassan Al Amoudi, CEO of Asyad Holdings and Wafi Energy Pakistan Limited Chairman Zubair Shaikh on Thursday. He welcomed the delegation and appreciated both groups’ contributions to Pakistan’s energy and investment sectors, the Finance Division said. 

“He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to facilitating foreign investors and ensuring a business-friendly environment,” the statement said on Thursday. 

Aurangzeb spoke to the delegation about his recent visit to Saudi Arabia for the AlUla Conference 2025, commending Saudi Arabia’s strides in economic diversification and infrastructure development.

The Saudi delegation informed the minister about their plans to expand their investments in Pakistan, emphasizing that the South Asian country already hosts their largest investments, the Finance Division said. 

“They expressed confidence in Pakistan’s economic potential and shared their vision for further collaboration in the downstream petroleum sector and energy infrastructure,” the statement said. 

The delegation noted that investor and consumer confidence in Pakistan is returning, the Finance Division said. 

“The finance minister reiterated the government’s full support for foreign investors and its dedication to policies that foster investment, innovation, and sustainable economic progress,” the statement said. 

Pakistan has proactively tried to woo foreign investors and countries into investing in the country’s energy, infrastructure, real estate, agriculture, livestock and other priority sectors ever since it came close to defaulting on its international payments in 2023. 

Pakistan formed the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) in June 2023 to attract international investment in its priority sectors, particularly from Gulf countries. 

The SIFC is a hybrid civil-military body that aims to fast-track decisions related to international investment. Since its formation, Pakistan has signed several agreements in trade and investment with Saudi Arabia, UAE, Azerbaijan, Turkiye, China and other countries worth billions of dollars.