Vote: How many people here support US aid? and Why?

[Rafael]

well its kinda hard to believe that in just 4 months or so of zardari rule our economy collapsed..............I dont agree....something is fishy.........either the stats or the sources.

 

[opinion786]

There are few misperceptions about Aid;

At a Washington think tank, a senior expert Flynt Leverett acknowledged Pakistan’s key efforts in the fight against terrorism and came down on critics who in their discussions keep harping on US extending 10 billion dollars in assistance to the ally. He noted that statements that the United States has provided Pakistan with $ 10 billion in assistance since Sept 11, 2001 are misleading.

“Let’s be true, more than half of that amount is not true “assistance” but rather reimbursements for costs accrued by the Pakistani military supporting US counterterrorism operations,” he said at the New American Foundation.

Further, the San Francisco Chronicle reports in their 5th November 2007 issue, the United States has provided Pakistan with $10.59 billion in military, economic and development aid since Sept. 11, 2001. A breakdown of the assistance:

1- The majority, about 60 percent, has gone toward “Coalition Support Funds,” intended to reimburse the Pakistani military for their assistance in combating terrorism. The U.S. government considers it repayment rather than aid.

2- About 15 percent, nearly $1.6 billion, is for security assistance. The Pakistanis have spent the majority of this money on purchases of major weapons systems.

3- Another 15 percent is for general budget support for the Pakistani government.

4- Approximately 10 percent was allocated for development or humanitarian assistance, including the U.S. response to the October 2005 earthquake.

Reality of USA Aid : Public being misled Our leader - Musharraf

 

[opinion786]

well its kinda hard to believe that in just 4 months or so of zardari rule our economy collapsed..............I dont agree....something is fishy.........either the stats or the sources.

Give them 'Qaroon ka Khazana' and they'll wipe it off in 2 months! 4 months was pretty long - considering our army is there to protect us!

The major halt was - in the initial 4 months of PPP around $22 billion ran away to Dubai etc out of fear. DAWN News talked about this several times.

Even on 'Aaj with Kamran Khan' - he also quoted KSE market capitalization to be worth $75 billion on 18th April 2008 and now it's $20 billion (only $5 billion you can consider the devaluation of ruppee)

 

[Omar1984]

well its kinda hard to believe that in just 4 months or so of zardari rule our economy collapsed..............I dont agree....something is fishy.........either the stats or the sources.

I posted the link to the source, you can check the website for yourself.
Besides, I can find newspaper links comparing the economy from Musharaf's era and today's economy in Pakistan. Its shocking but its true, today the GDP growth rate is barely 1%. During the end of Musharaf's era it was 7%.
Do research, everything's available on the internet.


If Pakistan continues this road, it will end up to be a Somalia.
BTW IMF loan, Pakistan has to pay back and Zardari wants to take out more IMF loans, how is the future generation supposed to pay that much back with interst?

 

[opinion786]

And what is equally great about this IMF loan is that we have to repay them/IMF in 2011 - and I wonder how we'll do that?

Also visit: Economic Pakistan to judge the difference.

 

[KnightRyder]

Mera bhai, in February 2007, Pakistan's economy was booming, it was at its highest point. Back then, Pakistan was at an economic competition with India, now Pakistan is at an economic competition with Afghanistan. On 2007, Pakistan's GDP growth rate was at 7%, now its barely 1% and today India's GDP growth rate is at 7%.
Now in February 2009, Pakistan is almost bankrupt, had to take an IMF bailout, theres more drone attacks on Pakistani soil now, theres more Pakistani civilians killed now, theres more Pakistani troops killed now, theres more suicide bombings in Pakistan now. Parts of Pakistan is under Taliban control now.

Pakistan during Musharaf's era was far better than Pakistan today.

Economic prosperity that Pakistan enjoyed after 911 attacks was largely due to the crack down on illegal foreign Pakistanis living in the US and West in general who owned small businesses, homes, and had other investments but no status. Their properties were seized, businesses shut down, and they were deported. US deported 100s of thousands of refugees. Others who witnessed this going on quickly sold their properties and sent money back home.

The way things were going for muslims in the first few years post-911 in US, many Pakistani muslims with dual nationalities feared US authorities might take away properties too. This led them to sell their properties and take away all of their investments back to Pakistan.

There were articles on DAWN and other newspapers indicating that Pakistan received upto $20 billion dollars in 2002 alone. And foreign money continued to pour in till 2007.

As a consequence, real estate got the biggest boom as property values rocketed up, banks started issuing loans to small business, and economy got a major boost. also this was during the birth period of computing and cell phone industries, and we've seen a major boom in those high-tech industries.

Now pray tell me, how this has *anything* to do with Musharaff or Shaukat Aziz's policies?

You're totally forgetting the lal-masjid massacre that caused hundreds of suicide bomb blasts and rattled the country economically. Do you not realize that these were Musharaff's polcies? When you have bombs going off every single day killing civilians and govn't officials in major cities, and foreigners being kidnapped, do you think our country deserves foreign investment?

Objectively looking at Musharaff's tenure, he did many good things such as registering NRO cases against corrupt politicans including MQM workers, Rehman Malik and Zardari in first few years of his service. however, sacking of the entire judiciary was another stab in the back of Pakistan's economy. Following that we've seen NRO cases against the most corrupt politicians and beurocrats dropped by the same man. He therefore nullified all of his good deeds with the reversal of his policies. And as a consequence, we have by far the most corrupt politicians back in business.

THerefore, the state that Pakistan is in today is largely due to policies of Musharaff's era.