Kerry-Lugar Aid Bill Viewed Warily By Pakistanis

nytimes.com:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan As the Obama administration weighs a shift in its military strategy in Afghanistan, it is also stepping up its efforts to increase aid to neighboring Pakistan. The Senate on Sept. 24 approved legislation to triple nonmilitary aid to Pakistan to about $1.5 billion a year for the next five years. However, conditions laid out in the bill, authored by Senators John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Richard Lugar, Republican of Indiana, have unleashed street protests and a flood of criticism from Pakistanis who say the bill compromises their country's sovereignty.

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[foxbat]

Well they could always do like Texas and try to refuse the money if they don't like the strings that are attached ... ooops, I forgot, now Texas actually WANTS its stimulus money.

[WilliamL]

Leery of 1.5 million?

Why are we giving money to them at all considering their inability to keep Bhuto from getting killed?
They have money for nuclear weapons?

All this business about the US not having money for health care and schools and infrastructure,
yeah, lets start with Foriegn aid and then move to taxing companies that export jobs, and surely can find other money for the US people and projects.

Leery of 1.5.

I have an idea, how about nothing.

[Durango]

Jeez.

Pakistanis know more about Congressional Legislation than we do.

Now that is pretty scary.

Can't really blame the Pakistanis for being suspicious of America. But they should note that the fools who were screwing up the world are now gone.

And that the fundamentalists like the Taliban and al Qaida are a greater threat to Pakistan and it's people than they will ever be to the West.

[Khirad]

Actually, they hadn't been kept fully abreast of the bill and the domestic Pakistani politics at foot here have a part in this, in addition to the natural concerns of course.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/14-opposing-kerry-lugar-zj-01

I liked the points, or rather common refrains, expressed within the NYT article regarding aid, trade, national sovereignty and military contractors. They are nothing new, but issues that must be addressed sooner, rather than later.

[StJames]

Perhaps we could just keep the 1.5 billion here? They want their nuclear weapons, eat those.
The Chinese ARE telling us what to do. They will become more forceful as they see us wasting more money.

[SlithyTove]

Got a laugh out of the misspelling of 'Lugar' in the protest sign ("KERRY LUGER BILL Sentenced to DEATH") that makes it so much more apt...

[000Jade000]

Bad move, Kerry/Lugar. How would we like it if our creditors--the Chinese--told us how to run our military? How would we like it if we had to be micro-managed by a foreign empire?

[NeoStar9]

We'd learn not to do it to others and get our crap together..­...finally­. Perhaps China should do it to us. See how fast things change then.

[Khirad]

We wouldn't of course, but mentioning China in a Pakistani thread made me think of a sort of geopolitical Kevin Bacon game we could play.