[Pak Daily Times] US aid pouring into Pakistan's flood-hit regions is helping reverse widespread anti-American sentiment but will not be enough to win hearts and minds in the long term, experts say.
The US has been the biggest and the quickest single international floods donor, committing $200 million to help its ally in the fight against terrorism to recover from its worst-ever natural disaster. The US currently has 22 helicopters rescuing stranded villagers and ferrying relief supplies around the country, with four more on the way, said US embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire. The superpower has been involved in every area of the relief effort, spending its millions mostly through the UN, and international and local charity channels, to supply tonnes of food, water, shelter and medicine. $50 million have already been diverted from a $7.5 billion aid package approved by the US Congress last year in a bid to deepen ties with the South Asian nuclear power, a key partner in the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda-linked terrorists. Victims are grateful for the help but many Pakistanis think it ironic that while the US is sending tonnes of aid, it is also sending drones to bomb terrorist hideouts in the border areas with Afghanistan.
| Our culture finds the combination of carrot and stick more effective -- rewarding good behaviour and punishing bad. |
And the gratitude may be short-lived, just as it was after a swell of support from America following Pakistan's 2005 earthquake that left 73,000 dead, said Pakistan analyst Rahimullah Yusufzai. "There will be goodwill created, it's already happening for America and it also happened in October 2005 during the earthquake... but that was for a short while and this is again the fear that it may not last long," said Yusufzai. "Aid must happen on a long-term basis," he said.
| Aid has been happening on a long term basis. Decades, actually. Y'all just assume you're entitled to a tax on American income, and refuse to be grateful. |
"There's a changing perception about America but not on such a big scale right now because at the same time America's helping out they are also bombing Pakistan territory".
| Fix your jihadi problem and we won't have to do it for you. |
During a visit to Pakistan's devastated submerged regions last week, head of aid agency USAID Rajiv Shah sought to assure officials that the US would keep a commitment to help Pakistan in the long term. But touring Sukkur, once a thriving semi-industrial trading post -- now reduced to a city of tarpaulin tents providing thin respite from the heat for thousands of families, the scale of the challenge was clear. "This is going to be very, very difficult, this is a huge-scale disaster," said Shah. "But we have to continue to be optimistic and look for those opportunities to help Pakistan to use this to build back better". The floods have already forced the US to rethink its spending in Pakistan, after announcing in July a series of water, energy and healthcare projects to improve the country's dire infrastructure. The floodwaters have wiped out part of Pakistan's most fertile agricultural land, damaged roads, bridges, power stations, electricity facilities, hospitals, schools, homes and left millions hungry, setting back longer-term development goals. |