If the battle is about winning hearts & minds of Pakistanis, then US must find ways of engaging with ordinary people.
LAHORE: The US State Department and its affiliated agencies have not reached out to Pakistanis, with sufficient frequency and openness to educate about the good work they have done and continue to do in a number of different areas, including in education, health, agriculture and industry. One unintended side effect of the information deficit has been that most people now believe that US assistance to Pakistan goes only to defence, which is not true.
If the real battle is about winning the hearts and minds of Pakistanis, then the US must find ways of engaging with ordinary men, women and children, rather than remain guarded and aloof, which gives rise to mutual mistrust. There is much that can be done in this realm to reverse this trend. In this regard, Ms Petrovich’s article is a highly welcome attempt.
Rao Amjad Ali
Published in The Express Tribune, June 18th, 2013.
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