Poor comment Indianrabbit , i didn't expected it from you but something rather solid.
Here we go!!
Development of bilateral relations
Saudi Arabia was one of the strongest supporters of Pakistan during all of Pakistan's wars with India, especially opposing the creation of Bangladesh from Pakistan's eastern wing in 1971 due to the fear of India's increasing role in the region and the propaganda from West Pakistan of what was happening in East Pakistan.[1] While it had supported Pakistan's stance on the Kashmir conflict, it has since endorsed the Indo-Pakistani peace process. With Pakistan, it provided extensive financial and political support to the Taliban and the Afghan mujahideen fighting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s.[2][3][1] During the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War, Pakistan sent troops to protect the Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia, but strains developed when some Pakistani politicians and Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg, the then-chief of staff of the Pakistani army openly expressed support for Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq and its invasion of Kuwait.[4] Along with the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan were the only states to recognise Taliban rule in Afghanistan. In May 1998, before Pakistan's Chagai-I nuclear tests, Saudi Arabia promised to supply 50,000 barrels per day of free oil to help Pakistan cope with likely economic sanctions in the aftermath.[3]
You got your answer ..?
Saudi Arabia strongest supporter of Pakistan???
The Guardian.co.uk
Pakistan takes $5bn IMF bail-out after allies refuse funds
Saeed Shah in Islamabad
The Guardian, Thursday 23 October 2008
Pakistan has sought an emergency bail-out from the International Monetary Fund, a humiliating step forced on Islamabad after allies refused to come up with cash to prevent the country going bust.
The IMF confirmed yesterday that Pakistan had sought funds to meet balance of payments difficulties. It is expected to provide $5bn (about £3bn) or more for the coming year, with billions more for subsequent years.
Pakistan's finance minister, Shaukat Tareen, said recently that going to the IMF was his "plan C", but Islamabad has been stung by rebuffs from its closest international partners - China, the US and Saudi Arabia - leaving it with few choices. Past IMF programmes, requiring Pakistan to agree to austerity measures, were deeply unpopular. The previous regime, of President Pervez Musharraf, had trumpeted its break from this source of finance.
"Musharraf, everyone, celebrated that Pakistan had graduated out of IMF programmes. He said he had 'broken the begging bowl'," said Faisal Bari, a professor of economics at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. "Going back to the IMF means that the country is carrying the begging bowl again, that it is not on a path of sustainable growth."
Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves will run out within about seven weeks, meaning that it will not be able to meet external debt payments, making it bankrupt. The restoration of democracy, with elections in February, coincided with an economic collapse that has sent inflation soaring and the rupee plunging. Islamabad had hoped that, as a frontline state in the "war on terror", allies would come to its aid, as a bankrupt country would not be able to fight the Taliban and al-Qaida.
The foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, said the west would suffer if Pakistan was not helped. "You have to wake up and realise that Pakistan is a victim, Pakistan has stood by you ... if you don't stand by Pakistan you will let yourselves down," Qureshi said in a BBC interview.
The US assistant secretary of state Richard Boucher, visiting Pakistan this week, said the "goal was not to throw money on the table". The IMF typically lends money in return for economic reforms that require deep cuts in government expenditure and a rise in taxes. But the coalition government has already carried out some of these measures, mostly by withdrawing subsidies for fuel, electricity and food.
Mushtaq Khan, an economist at Citibank in London, described the bail-out as good news. "The IMF is like bitter medicine but, unfortunately, that's what is required."
Separately, Pakistan's parliament last night agreed on a counterterrorism policy. However, the strategy, which has the support of all parties, may prove controversial with international partners as it calls for dialogue with militants and the use of force only as a last resort.
Pakistan takes $5bn IMF bail-out after allies refuse funds | World news | The Guardian
