Report: United States Should Delay Some Aid to Pakistan (AP)
CGD's new report on U.S. aid to Pakistan was featured in an AP article.
This article was run by the following news outlets: CNBC, Forbes, The Denver Post, The Seattle Times, The Miami Herald, Newsday.com, MSNBC, The San Francisco Examiner, Bloomberg Businessweek,and The Huffington Post.
From the Article
The U.S. should hold back much of its $7.5 billion aid package to Pakistan until it reforms dysfunctional policies related to energy, taxes and other areas, according to a new report that criticizes the American aid program's focus in a country beset by corruption, poverty and militancy.
The report by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Global Development is the culmination of months of research and interviews with aid and other experts in Pakistan and the United States. Titled "Beyond Bullets and Bombs: Fixing the U.S. Approach to Development in Pakistan," it also calls for focusing more on trade by giving Pakistani exports easier entry to U.S. markets.
U.S. financial assistance to Pakistan has come under renewed scrutiny since the May 2 raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan's northwest and further damaged already uneasy Islamabad-Washington relations.
Although Pakistani leaders insist they had no idea the al-Qaida chief was hiding on their soil, some U.S. lawmakers are questioning if it's worth giving billions to a nation long suspected of aiding some Islamist extremist groups. Others say the U.S. must not abandon such a strategic country, and that aid gives Pakistan more incentive to battle militants who use its soil to attack U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
According to the report, the U.S. Agency for International Development spent $275 million in 2009 and $676 million in 2010, the first year covered by the $7.5 billion package, which was approved in 2009.