Pakistanis Welcome US Aid Cutoff
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Islamabad: Pakistanis have overwhelmingly welcomed the cutoff of US aid, as reflected in a poll conducted by online newspaper and independent think tank PKKH (PakistanKaKhudaHafiz.com)
The U.S. government had last week announced that it would not deliver about one third of the military aid it had allocated to Pakistan this year, approximately $800 million.
After the U.S announcement, the Pakistani authorities were quick to play down the impact of the measure and on Monday, Pakistani military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said the military was not officially notified that aid had been cut. He also pointed out that the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, had declared that U.S. cash reimbursements to the military, known as Coalition Support Funds, should go instead to the civilian government, which needed the money more.
We have conducted our (anti-extremist) military operations without external support or assistance, Abbas said. Reports coming out of the U.S. are aimed at undermining the authority of our military organizations.
The mood on the Pakistani streets mirrors the defiance displayed by its armed forces.
Out of the 1,200 citizens polled by independent think tank and online newspaper PKKH (PakistanKaKhudaHafiz.com), an overwhelming 87% backed Pakistan Armys stance, while 82% also said a complete cut-off of all civilian and military aid would be in the best interest of the country, which has found difficult to end its dependency on foreign aid and IMF packages in recent years.
No country has ever been able to stand on its feet while taking foreign aid, says Mohsin Qureshi, a young entrepreneur in Karachi talking to PKKH.
We have compromised our sovereignty and destroyed our peace due to our so called partnership with the US. Theres no such thing as a free lunch. The conditions attached to the US aid hurt Pakistan, instead of helping. Its time to cut the cord, we have enough potential to sustain ourselves and it will help us to stand on our feet eventually. We have tonnes of potential and the longer we rely on foreign aid, the longer it will take for that begging bowl mindset to change.
Earlier this year, Pakistans finance minister dismissed as a myth in the United States that his country is a major recipient of tens of billions of dollars in US aid.
Finance Minister Abdul Hafiz Shaikh told an audience in Washington in April this year that the United States had not delivered what it promised under the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Law aid package, which is meant to provide $7.5 billion in civilian aid over five years.
The law authorized $1.5 billion a year.
There is a perception that there is a lot of money going to Pakistan,
Shaikh told the Woodrow Wilson Center policy think tank.
It is largely a myth that Pakistan is a beneficiary of tens of billions of dollars. The truth is that in the Kerry-Lugar-Berman arrangement this year we have not even received $300 million, he added.
Two major American newspapers have warned the Obama administration about the risks involved in suspending $800 million in US aid to the Pakistani military, saying the move could backfire.
We worry that the cutoff in aid was based less on a calculation of its effect on Pakistan than on the desire to publicly protest the countrys stance partly in an effort to mollify Congressional critics, The Los Angeles Times said in an editorial on Wednesday.
Ideally, the suspension of aid will be short-lived while the relationship is mended. Pakistan can and should assist in that process, rather than falling back into the anti-Americanism and obstructionism that led to the Obama administrations decision to suspend aid in the first place, said the
editorial: Punishing Pakistan may punish the US too. In confirming the suspension, White House Chief of Staff William Daley called the US-Pakistani relationship complicated, it said.
Thats an understatement. We hope that the decision to suspend aid wont complicate it further, the Times said, while justifying Washingtons frustration with Pakistan. As long as the war in Afghanistan continues, the US needs to move weapons and troops through Pakistan, and it needs useful intelligence about militant groups, it said.
The criticism from the US have aggravated the anger in Pakistan, particularly in the military, over the killing of Osama bin Laden in a drive that was conducted without the knowledge of Pakistani officials, it added.
The suggestion that it could not be trusted to keep a secret outraged the military, as did the fact that US commandos stormed Osama Bin Ladens hideout without permission, it said. In its editorial, The Washington Post has called the policy of publicly confronting the Pakistani leadership on the aid issue as a risky course.
While it might deliver some short-term results, the tactic reflects a disarray in policy toward a country where instability or radicalisation could pose a major threat to American security, the newspaper said.
American sentiment is already running high in Pakistan and leaders who favour cooperation with the US are under siege. Announcing that funds will be held back, unless and until we see certain steps taken, as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton put it in Congressional testimony last month, may only intensify the resistance, the editorial said.
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Islamabad: Pakistanis have overwhelmingly welcomed the cutoff of US aid, as reflected in a poll conducted by online newspaper and independent think tank PKKH (PakistanKaKhudaHafiz.com)
The U.S. government had last week announced that it would not deliver about one third of the military aid it had allocated to Pakistan this year, approximately $800 million.
After the U.S announcement, the Pakistani authorities were quick to play down the impact of the measure and on Monday, Pakistani military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said the military was not officially notified that aid had been cut. He also pointed out that the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, had declared that U.S. cash reimbursements to the military, known as Coalition Support Funds, should go instead to the civilian government, which needed the money more.
We have conducted our (anti-extremist) military operations without external support or assistance, Abbas said. Reports coming out of the U.S. are aimed at undermining the authority of our military organizations.
The mood on the Pakistani streets mirrors the defiance displayed by its armed forces.
Out of the 1,200 citizens polled by independent think tank and online newspaper PKKH (PakistanKaKhudaHafiz.com), an overwhelming 87% backed Pakistan Armys stance, while 82% also said a complete cut-off of all civilian and military aid would be in the best interest of the country, which has found difficult to end its dependency on foreign aid and IMF packages in recent years.
No country has ever been able to stand on its feet while taking foreign aid, says Mohsin Qureshi, a young entrepreneur in Karachi talking to PKKH.
We have compromised our sovereignty and destroyed our peace due to our so called partnership with the US. Theres no such thing as a free lunch. The conditions attached to the US aid hurt Pakistan, instead of helping. Its time to cut the cord, we have enough potential to sustain ourselves and it will help us to stand on our feet eventually. We have tonnes of potential and the longer we rely on foreign aid, the longer it will take for that begging bowl mindset to change.
Earlier this year, Pakistans finance minister dismissed as a myth in the United States that his country is a major recipient of tens of billions of dollars in US aid.
Finance Minister Abdul Hafiz Shaikh told an audience in Washington in April this year that the United States had not delivered what it promised under the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Law aid package, which is meant to provide $7.5 billion in civilian aid over five years.
The law authorized $1.5 billion a year.
There is a perception that there is a lot of money going to Pakistan,
Shaikh told the Woodrow Wilson Center policy think tank.
It is largely a myth that Pakistan is a beneficiary of tens of billions of dollars. The truth is that in the Kerry-Lugar-Berman arrangement this year we have not even received $300 million, he added.
Two major American newspapers have warned the Obama administration about the risks involved in suspending $800 million in US aid to the Pakistani military, saying the move could backfire.
We worry that the cutoff in aid was based less on a calculation of its effect on Pakistan than on the desire to publicly protest the countrys stance partly in an effort to mollify Congressional critics, The Los Angeles Times said in an editorial on Wednesday.
Ideally, the suspension of aid will be short-lived while the relationship is mended. Pakistan can and should assist in that process, rather than falling back into the anti-Americanism and obstructionism that led to the Obama administrations decision to suspend aid in the first place, said the
editorial: Punishing Pakistan may punish the US too. In confirming the suspension, White House Chief of Staff William Daley called the US-Pakistani relationship complicated, it said.
Thats an understatement. We hope that the decision to suspend aid wont complicate it further, the Times said, while justifying Washingtons frustration with Pakistan. As long as the war in Afghanistan continues, the US needs to move weapons and troops through Pakistan, and it needs useful intelligence about militant groups, it said.
The criticism from the US have aggravated the anger in Pakistan, particularly in the military, over the killing of Osama bin Laden in a drive that was conducted without the knowledge of Pakistani officials, it added.
The suggestion that it could not be trusted to keep a secret outraged the military, as did the fact that US commandos stormed Osama Bin Ladens hideout without permission, it said. In its editorial, The Washington Post has called the policy of publicly confronting the Pakistani leadership on the aid issue as a risky course.
While it might deliver some short-term results, the tactic reflects a disarray in policy toward a country where instability or radicalisation could pose a major threat to American security, the newspaper said.
American sentiment is already running high in Pakistan and leaders who favour cooperation with the US are under siege. Announcing that funds will be held back, unless and until we see certain steps taken, as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton put it in Congressional testimony last month, may only intensify the resistance, the editorial said.
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