KARACHI: American aid to Pakistan over the last 10 years has averaged two billion dollars a year, which translates to around 12 dollars annually for every Pakistani. Compare this with American aid to Israel (three billion dollars a year), which amounts to 375 dollars a year for every Israeli (Israel’s population is around eight million). Each citizen of Israel, therefore, gets more than 30 times the aid given to every Pakistani.
But this is not all. It’s well-known that most of the aid given by the US to Pakistan does not benefit the ordinary Pakistani. The aid is conditional upon using American consultants and equipment, which (together with other charges) amount to about 70 per cent of the total aid amount. From the rest, a good chunk is siphoned away to private bank accounts, leaving about 10 per cent for the common man.
So, it’s the US which benefits the most from the aid it gives. Should we continue taking aid from America, especially since it is not really aid (most of it has to be repaid with interest)?
The only losers (in case we stop taking American aid) will be US consultants and industries. If America really wants to help Pakistan, considering what it has done to further America’s interests in the region, it should write off all the ‘aid’ it has given to it.
Shakir Lakhani
Published in The Express Tribune, December 2nd, 2011.
