US offers Pakistan government $7bn in non-military aid to fight terrorism·

[solid snake]

Dear Icecold-the question which begs to be asked is Who will take credit for this US largesse?
the new govt?
Musharraf?
Kiyani?
or
Sen Biden?

How about all of them?

 

[Contrarian]

Malay ji long time no see. But nice to see u again.

Nice 2 see you as well mate...

 

[maqsad]

why is that in India that is
1. India ensures that its schools and colleges are functional.
2. the Indian middle class (esp parents) know that the only way for upward mobility is to get a education (higher the better)
3. The Indian govt expects ToT from any foreign investment in their local industry.
4. India did not nationalise their business houses like our dear ZAB did.

If you are trying to say that the Indians are handling the transformation of a TINY PART of their 1200 million person economy from the stone age to the space age better than pakistan handles it's tech secotr then I agree.

If you are making another excuse as to why the pakistani economy is doomed to stay backward then I disagree. All that has to happen is something simple like banning the importation of all cars from every single country, right now. And banning the importation of most spare parts for those cars in 1-5 years. I guarantee you as soon as that happens the local automobile industry will start booming at 50% a year and the trade deficit will start shrinking every single month. If there are not enough technicians and engineers then well they can be imported as temp labor. Reverse brain drain. And once industry expands the educational system will automatically start producing the engineers to handle it...no excuses there.

Hundreds of changes like that could be made, all that has to be done is find a policy that is bleeding and destroying the economy and reverse it. A 12 year old could do this in a few days so I really don't comprehend why nobody brings these ideas up for the 5 year plans. All that I hear happening in those 5 year plans is more garbage occupations being created and subsidized. Are these policymakers mentally retarded or is someone or something causing them to be so amazingly incompetent? I just can't explain it.

 

[maqsad]

Maqsad:



It is not the United States job or responsibility to stimulate anything in our nation.

The fact that I had to actually argue against the US just handing the money over to the GoP, expecting it to utilize it properly (which you also implicitly agree with, when pointing out the failure of our politicians to "fix" the problems), indicates a deep malaise in our nations political system.

I have to agree with Fatman here, the responsibility is ours - when we do not necessarily have the educational infrastructure to cater to all of these "high tech" industries, then why blame the US?

Its our job to plan and implement such programs and ensure we have adequate human resources to man them, not the US's. If you want the US to ensure that we have the right policies and programs, as well as providing the money for them, then we might as well add five more States in the US constitution - Balochistan, Punjab, Sindh, Sarhad and kashmir.

If this plan goes through, the US will have shown extraordinary generosity in attempting to help us fix our affairs, we cannot ask any more of her. How we utilize that aid is entirely our responsibility.

The way I look at it the USA has chosen to wetnurse the pak military and the pak textile industry while leaving everything else untouched. These are deliberate policy decisions and simultaneously another arm of US-related power is the IMF which has a reputation of keeping third world economies in eternal debt if you listen to a lot of unconventional speakers. One book, confessions of an economic hitman, does come to mind. It would not surprise me if through the manipulation of and pressure on various international agencies such as the IMF. world bank, UN departments the US or "the west" is managing to keep huge parts of the pak economy backwards and low tech as part of a deliberate campaign.

Anyway that is going off on a tangent, I do agree that the bulk of this sickness is in the minds of pakistani govt officials. What is your take on why this is so? Why are there such horribly incompetent policies made coming from the top down which choke the pakistani economy?

 

[maqsad]

Ok this aid package is far far away. The US congress is just dangling this as a carrot and no decision will be made for at least one more year on it after the new whitehouse crew is in place. So basically the article in the Guardian was just someone's daydream.

Democrats discuss new aid package for Pakistan



By Anwar Iqbal​

WASHINGTON, April 17: The Democrats, who already control the US Congress and are likely to win the 2008 presidential election as well, have started consultations to offer a new $7 billion aid package to Pakistan.

“The United States needs to stay engaged with Pakistan,” says Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat and co-chair of the bipartisan Pakistan Caucus on Capitol Hill. “We cannot stand idly by while the new Pakistani government struggles to strengthen democracy.”

Senior congressional aides told Dawn that the Democrats have started consultations on an aid package initiated last year by Joseph Biden, a six-term senator and chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

While there’s little possibility of an early approval of the Biden package, diplomatic sources in Washington say that the US may soon offer $200 million to help stabilise the newly elected government in Islamabad.

Mr Biden, who was also a candidate for this year’s presidential election but later dropped out of the race, had put together this package “to encourage Pakistan to stay on the road to democracy.”

The package includes $1.5 billion a year in civilian aid for at least five years and a $1 billion “democracy dividend” as a reward for holding elections and forming a coalition government.

It proposes to tie counter-terrorism aid to Pakistan’s performance in the war against terror and to provide more assistance to civilian law enforcers.

A report in Britain’s Guardian newspaper on Thursday, however, presented this aid package as a new strategy agreed between Washington and the civilian rulers in Islamabad.

But sources at the US State Department and the Pakistan Embassy in Washington told Dawn that they have not heard of a new strategy or aid package for Pakistan.

They explained that the current $3.2 billion aid package expires in October 2009 and by then Washington will have a new administration, which will want to negotiate a new deal with Pakistan on its own terms.

“So, it makes little sense for the current administration to finalise a five-year package so close to the US presidential election,” scheduled on Nov 4, said a source.

Sources in the US Congress also said that they do not expect the legislature to approve Senator Biden’s proposal before the US presidential election.

The package, however, is seen in Congress as a major strategic move for encouraging democracy in Pakistan. It would triple the amount of non-military aid to Pakistan, and is aimed at redefining the bilateral relationship.

Senator Biden’s proposal also shifts US focus from dependence on the military to a greater engagement with political forces in Pakistan.

Democrats discuss new aid package for Pakistan -DAWN - Top Stories; April 18, 2008