The United States and Bangladesh have generally enjoyed a positive working relationship. The United States has sought to help Bangladesh with its development goals, including in the areas of sustainable development, health, education, poverty reduction, disaster preparedness, and food security. In recent years, the rise of Islamist militancy has been a cause of concern to the United States and to Bangladesh's Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, and her government. The two nations hold an annual Partnership Dialogue and a Security Dialogue and have developed a cooperative relationship over the years to meet shared concerns. Bangladesh faces—and will continue to face—major challenges in the coming years. Bangladesh is undergoing a political struggle between those that would emphasize Islamic religious identity over a relatively more secular identity based on Bengali nationalism. This tension manifests itself through demonstrations, political gridlock, and at times violent street protests. Rising conservative Islamist sentiment may also increasingly become linked to militant organizations and international Islamist movements. A growing population, when combined with environmental stress brought on by natural disasters and climate change, may pose further challenges for Bangladesh, particularly given its already high population density. While the geopolitical rivalry between China and India may present opportunities for Bangladesh, it may also create new tensions or place new demands on the country in the years ahead. The recent arrival of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya from Burma is a potential source of instability and will likely have humanitarian, diplomatic, security, and geopolitical implications for Bangladesh. To date in 2017, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees have crossed the border from Burma into Bangladesh. The predominantly Muslim Rohingya have faced persecution in Buddhist-majority Burma for years—especially in Burma's Rakhine State—and an estimated 582,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since August 2017. Bangladeshi authorities have struggled to accommodate the new arrivals, and Sheikh Hasina has called on Burma to take back the displaced Rohingya. Political instability likely will remain a problem in Bangladesh and could further erode democracy in the country, according to some observers. Some view the risk of social unrest as rising as the 2019 parliamentary election draws nearer. A major source of instability is the rivalry between Prime Minister Hasina, of the governing Awami League (AL), and Khaleda Zia, the leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). That rivalry, observers suggest, shows little sign of abating. Some observers see few paths to get beyond the current political stalemate, and the BNP likely will resort to further protests to pressure the AL government to hold the 2019 election under a caretaker government. In July 2017, some observers pointed to disputes over wages for garment workers as a potential flashpoint of social unrest. Others noted the potential that rising food prices, the result of floods in April and August 2017 which destroyed 1.2 million tons of rice in Bangladesh, could be a cause of political instability. A report issued by the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security noted that the "Department … assessed Dhaka as being a high-threat location for political violence directed at or affecting official U.S. government interests." Political demonstrations, the report continued, have led to violent clashes—some of which have resulted in fatalities. A Bangladeshi human rights group, Odhikar, reported that, in 2016, 215 people were killed and 9,050 were injured because of inter- or intraparty violence. There also are signs of ongoing Islamist militancy, and the continuing political turmoil could create opportunities for Islamists. In March 2017, there were several terrorist attacks across the country, making it the deadliest month since July 2016, when an attack on a bakery killed over 20 people, including one U.S. citizen. Observers believe the threat of small-scale, religiously motivated attacks continues. The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has, according to some, contributed to the country's political instability. The ICT was constituted on March 25, 2010, and it has tried individuals accused of committing human rights abuses during Bangladesh's war of independence against Pakistan in 1971. As of October 2017, 33 cases were under trial at the tribunal. Some analysts point out that the trials seem to be aimed at undermining the AL's political opponents, especially Islamists, including members of Jamaat-i-Islami (JI)—the largest Islamist political party in the country and a traditional BNP ally. In April 2017, the ICT handed down death sentences to two people who were convicted of committing war crimes during the 1971 war. In July 2017, the head of the ICT's investigation arm confirmed that there was an ongoing investigation into Osman Faruque, a top BNP leader. The United States has long-standing supportive relations with Bangladesh. Bangladeshis tend to have a positive view of the United States: According to a 2014 Pew opinion survey, 76% of Bangladeshis had a favorable opinion of the United States, compared to 66% of respondents from the United Kingdom. The United States and Bangladesh work together on several issues, including development, governance, trade, and security. In August 2017, U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells met with Prime Minister Hasina to discuss U.S.-Bangladeshi relations, including the two countries' efforts to cooperate on security and energy issues. The United States engages Bangladesh through several fora, including the U.S.-Bangladesh Partnership Dialogue and the U.S.-Bangladesh Dialogue on Security Issues. The former seeks to improve ties between the two nations. In June 2016, the Partnership Dialogue—held in Washington, DC—addressed a broad spectrum of issues, including "security cooperation, development and governance cooperation, and trade and investment cooperation." Also, following the Dialogue, the United States and Bangladesh issued a joint statement announcing that Bangladesh would be joining the U.S. Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund, which aims to provide security-assistance funding to states fighting extremists. The United States and Bangladesh see a common interest in working to counter extremist Islamists and their ideology—as well as in promoting regional and global security. Historically, the two countries have shared an interest in supporting U.N. peacekeeping operations. In July 2017, Admiral Harry Harris, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM), met with Prime Minister Hasina and participated in the dedication ceremony for the Bangladesh Institute of Peace Support Operations Training—a $3.6 million facility to train peacekeepers deploying with the United Nations. Bangladesh is one of the largest contributors of military personnel to U.N. missions. (See section " Peacekeeping " below for further details.) The U nited States has worked to strengthen Bangladesh's maritime security capabilities. The United States transferred a U.S. Coast Guard cutter, the USS Jarvis , to Bangladesh in 2013. A second U.S. cutter, the USS Rush , was transferred in 2015. PACOM conducts naval exercises with Bangladesh, including the Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (SEACAT) exercise, which promotes multilateral cooperation and information sharing with naval forces from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Singapore, and Thailand. PACOM also carries out humanitarian operations, such as Operation Pacific Angel, which provides humanitarian assistance, such as general health and dentistry services, to people in the Asia-Pacific region. Additionally, Bangladesh's security forces conduct counterterrorism training with U.S. forces. As mentioned above, Bangladesh participates in the State Department's Antiterrorism Assistance program—which provides participating states with counterterrorism training and equipment—and the country has received U.S. funding for law-enforcement training. The United States and Bangladesh also signed the Counterterrorism Cooperation Initiative in 2013. The United States has been a foreign assistance partner of Bangladesh since its creation in 1971, and many observers contend that the country greatly needs foreign aid. For FY2018, the Trump Administration requested about $138 million in foreign-assistance funding for Bangladesh ( Table 1 ). Previously, for FY2017, the Obama Administration requested about $208 million. In 2015, the Asian Development Bank reported that 31.5% of Bangladeshis lived below the national poverty line, and in 2014, 18.5% of Bangladeshis were living on less than $1.90 (PPP) per day. Also, about one-quarter of the population—or about 40 million people—faced food-insecurity issues in 2014. The United States has partnered with Bangladesh on three major development initiatives: Feed the Future, the Global Climate Change Initiative, and the Global Health Initiative. As part of Feed the Future, USAID has implemented programs to improve the food-security situation in Bangladesh—for instance, by working to increase crop yields. USAID has provided assistance to Bangladesh across a number of areas, including supporting democratic institutions, promoting health and education, empowering women, and disaster preparedness and response. According to USTR, in 2016, Bangladesh was the United States' 50 th -largest trading partner in terms of total, two-way goods trade. Exports of U.S. goods to Bangladesh were worth approximately $895 million in 2016 and supported an estimated 6,000 U.S. jobs in 2015. In 2016, major U.S. exports to Bangladesh included miscellaneous grain, seeds, fruit (soybeans) ($249 million), cotton ($96 million), machinery ($83 million), food waste, animal feed ($72 million), and iron and steel ($72 million). From Bangladesh, the United States primarily imported woven apparel ($3.8 billion), knit apparel ($1.4 billion), miscellaneous textile articles ($206 million), headgear ($174 million), and footwear ($105 million).