Make Pakistan aid development oriented: Experts

WASHINGTON: Noting that America's efforts are heavily focused on security in nuclear-armed Pakistan, a group of eminent US experts have called for a substantial revamp of the country's approach towards Islamabad to make aid development oriented.

"The United States is way off course in Pakistan. It's heavily focused on security while neglecting low-cost, low-risk investments in jobs, growth, and the long haul of democracy building," said Nancy Birdsall, president of the Washington-based Centre for Global Development, which released a report on Pakistan prepared by eminent US and Pakistani development experts.

The report says that the administration's integrated 'Af-Pak' approach - lumping Pakistan together with Afghanistan in policy deliberations and bureaucratic lines of authority - has "muddled" the Pakistan development mission.

Similarly, "the integration of development, diplomacy, and defence has... left the programme without a clear, focused mandate."

The 42-page report urges a revamp of the US strategy toward the country, starting with greater reliance on trade--offering duty-free, quota-free access for all Pakistan exports to the US market for at least five years--and increased incentives for investment, such as new forms of risk insurance and credit programs for Pakistan's small and medium enterprises.

Much of the report focuses on how to improve the US aid programme in the country.

"After two years, the new US approach cannot yet boast a coherent set of focused development priorities or the organisation and tools to manage and adjust those priorities as conditions require," it said.

"If we are serious about the importance of economic growth in Pakistan, aid alone is not a solution," says Robert Mosbacher Jr, a study group member and former president of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

"Helping the Pakistani private sector compete is an investment in a healthy Pakistani middle class that will pay taxes and hold their government accountable for spending them wisely," he said.

Shuja Nawaz, a study group member who has written extensively on Pakistani civil-military relations, adds: "We have seen quite clearly how American and Pakistani security interests are intertwined, if not always identical. But over the long run, the security of both nations will only be ensured if Pakistan can develop economically and politically.

"The United States must keep one eye on this prize - even at moments, like now, when short-term crises seem more important."