US flood aid unlikely to create permanent goodwill

US aid is helping reverse anti-American sentiment but it will not be enough to win hearts and minds in the long term.

US aid is helping reverse widespread anti-American sentiment but it 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 Pakistan recover from its worst-ever natural disaster. It currently has 22 helicopters rescuing stranded villagers and ferrying relief supplies around the country, with four more on the way, said embassy spokesperson Richard Snelsire.

The superpower has been involved in every area of the relief effort, spending its millions mostly through the United Nations, and international and local charity channels, to supply tons of food, water, shelter and medicine. Victims are grateful for the help but many people think it is ironic that while the US is sending tons of aid, it is also sending drones to bomb militant hideouts in the border areas with Afghanistan.

“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 analyst Rahimullah Yusufzai.

“(Aid) must happen on a long-term basis,” he said. “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,” he added.

During a visit to the 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. “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.

But strategic relationships are no concern for the flood victims who have seen their homes and farms submerged by the waters.

“We just want aid. Most people don’t care who gives it to us,” said Jan Mohammad, 30, a teacher staying at a US-funded camp in southern Hyderabad with his wife and four children.

“We are grateful that they have come forward to help when our own government is doing little for us. I have no issue with the Americans, whether they are angels or devils.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2010.