By Christian Brose
The Obama administration is to be congratulated for its decision to provide $100 million of new assistance to Pakistan to address the humanitarian and refugee crisis caused by the Taliban's expanding violence. This is generous policy and smart strategy, which hopefully will not only save lives, but also provide greater evidence to Pakistanis that the United States is on the right side of their aspirations for a successful, civilian-led democracy. I was especially struck by this line from Secretary Clinton's announcement:
Altogether, the United States has provided more than $3.4 billion since 2002 to alleviate suffering and promote economic growth, education, health and good governance in Pakistan.
Consciously or not, Clinton put the lie to one of the Democrats' favorite and oft-repeated talking points -- that all the Bush administration did in Pakistan was prop up a military dictator and sell him F-16s. Now maybe we can all start trying to solve the real problem: why so much of that $3.4 billion of non-military assistance seems to have done so little good, either for the Pakistani people or for America's interests and image. Answering that question alone would go a long way to ensuring that the even greater sums of taxpayer dollars that we are poised to pour into that country will actually end up advancing our strategic interest in, and Pakistani aspirations for, an effective democratic state in Pakistan.
Read More
(1)
HIDE COMMENTS LOGIN OR REGISTER REPORT ABUSE