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| India-Pakistan |
| Hussain Haqqani urges US investment in Pakistan |
| 2009-03-20 |
| WASHINGTON: The Pakistani leadership believes that political stability is a key to economic development and foreign investment and strengthening the democratic institutions is the way forward to a progressive and modern nation ready to integrate with the developed world, Ambassador Husain Haqqani said. In a speech at the World Affairs Council of Houston, the envoy said Pakistan and United States are partners and allies for several decades and it is time, now, to foster this partnership into long term strategic partnership. He said the people of Pakistan need American investment and early concretization of initiatives like Kerry-Lugar Bill and Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZs) to step up the process of their socio#8209;economic development. On the fight against violent extremism, he underscored that cooperative relations between Pakistan, Afghanistan, NATO and the United States with a well-thought out strategic plan, encompassing military, political and socio-economic components would be critical to isolating and defeating Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. In this respect, he said, the U.S. companies have an important role to play to reinforce the economic component of this strategy. The new US Administration and the democratic government in Pakistan have a common desire to cooperate not only on fighting terrorism but also on socio-economic uplift of the Pakistani people with an emphasis on education, healthcare, improved trade and cooperation in infrastructure building. Speaking in the regional context, he stated that Pakistan and Afghanistan have close historic linkages. He informed the gathering that there was a time when the Afghan population lived in the refugee camps in Pakistan during the war against Soviet Union. Even Afghan President Hamid Karzai lived most of the time in Pakistan as he lived in Afghanistan. He said,radical ideas found roots in Afghanistan during the fight against Soviet Union occupation and found their way into Pakistan. A porous and wild Pakistan-Afghanistan border allows the Afghan insurgent groups to spill over to Pakistan and certain elements from the Pakistani side get involved in Afghanistan, he added. "Pakistan , Afghanistan , and the U.S will have to work together in cooperative spirit to crush insurgency and secure their border by using all possible means and by making possible political arrangements like we did in Swat." Regarding Pakistan-India relationship, Haqqani said, Pakistan has unresolved issues with India but the long term future of Pakistan and India has to be one of the cooperation and friendship. Washington, he said, can play a positive role in bringing Pakistan and India closer. Haqqani said Islamabad is willing to work with New Delhi to resolve all outstanding issues between the two countries, including the core dispute of Jammu and Kashmir. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 we already invest as a tax payer to the ISI |
| Posted by: Galactic Coordinator Omavising9607 2009-03-20 10:12 |
| #3 Somebody's been reading Obama's New Standard English Dictionary, where 'handout' is synonymous with 'investment'. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2009-03-20 09:23 |
| #2 "Never mind the excuse, just give us money. We promise not to call it jizya, except amongst ourselves." |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-03-20 09:08 |
| #1 Give me one good reason to invest one penny in Pakiwakiland. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2009-03-20 08:00 |