Can Pakistan survive without US aid?

Several policy-makers, politicians, and development professionals in the west believe that
the economic survival of Pakistan rests on handouts from the United States. Often
American legislators ridicule Pakistan for willingly accepting American dollars in charity,
but not delivering on American demands in return.

Some fact-checking is indeed in order. Pakistan is a $175 billion economy. Since 2002,
the US has provided on average $825 million annually in economic assistance to
Pakistan. On the other hand, Pakistani expatriates have remitted on average $1 billion
each month in 2011, making remittances an order of magnitude higher than what the US
has been providing to Pakistan. I would argue that Pakistan’s economy owes much more
to what the expatriates contribute than what comes in charity from the United States.

The American wars in the region have played havoc with Pakistan’s economic and social
infrastructure. According to the Government of Pakistan, the direct and indirect costs
from Nato’s war in Afghanistan, which began on October 07, 2001, has reached over $68
billion. These economic losses are an order of magnitude higher than what the US has
offered in economic and military assistance to Pakistan. And who to account for the
36,000-plus Pakistanis who have perished as a result of the Nato' war efforts in the
region. A fair compensation would require the US to engage the United Nations to verify
Pakistan’s claims and then reimburse Pakistan in full for proven claims.

It is not the first time [when US has threatened to suspend the financial assistance to
Pakistan]. They did it in the past as well, which is evident from our history. They have
always betrayed us in hard times, as in Pressler Amendment"

US President Donald Trump accused Pakistan of giving Washington "nothing but lies and
deceit". Trump had said Washington had "foolishly given Pakistan more than $33 billion
in aid over the last 15 years", but Pakistan had in return given "safe haven to the terrorists
we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help".

"China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Russia, and Iran expressed complete solidarity with us
after August 21 speech of US President Trump," he said. "We are not diplomatically
isolated."

But again, we are forgetting that 80% of the governmental departments are filled with
worst of all Pakistanis and this is highly impossible till their position isn't replace by
someone capable. Conclusion is simple.

Pakistan is now spoiled on foreign aids and its high time we must learn to stand on
our own feet. Any sudden cut in the aid would result in short-term crisis where all the
crooks would leave the government and go back to where they belong, West, taking away
anything and everything they can.
1. In fact, at the time of the Partition, Jawaharlal Nehru predicted that the new country
(Pakistan) would not be able to last more than six months. He fully expected that
Muhammad Ali Jinnah would beg him to take Pakistan back into India. Moreover, after
the breakup of Pakistan in 1971, Indian analysts were confident that in a matter of a year
or so, what remained of Pakistan would disintegrate and four new countries would
emerge.

But despite the loss of East Pakistan, we remained united and the Indians were
disillusioned.

After enduring much humiliation for many years now, with the Americans constantly
asking us to “do more”, it is time to ask ourselves whether we really need US aid.

In the past, the US has not only stopped giving us aid but has actually imposed
sanctions intended to cripple us.

1. In 1963, when Pakistan announced that its airlines would commence commercial
flights to China, President Lyndon B Johnson withheld a $4.30 million loan which was to
be spent for upgrading our airports.

We managed to survive.

2. In 1990, under the Pakistan-specific Pressler Amendment, President George Bush

halted a $570 million fund because of suspicions that Pakistan was developing a nuclear
weapon.

Again, we managed to survive.

3. In 1998, after Pakistan’s nuclear tests, the US imposed sanctions on Pakistan. Indian
analysts were jubilant, thinking that this was a death blow for Pakistan. They fully
expected mass hunger and deaths due to the shortage of food.

That did not happen, and we managed to survive.

So it is evident that the common Pakistani has not benefited from US aid, it is only the
elite and the corrupt that get the fruit of this so-called “aid”. Pakistan has not been able to
make any progress due to the fallout of the war in its neighbourhood. This should be
made clear to the Americans.

And now to analyze how much US aid (about a billion dollars a year) “helps” our
economy. Our budget is $45 billion, and what we get from the US is only about 2% of
what we require. If the US decides to stop sending aid to Pakistan, it will have a very
negligible effect on us, and this has been proved in the past.

We have made mistakes in the past, like agreeing to help the US with its war in
Afghanistan. In fact, when George Bush wanted to use our airspace and roads for the
invasion of Afghanistan, our leaders agreed unconditionally. We could have asked for our
external debt to be written off (considering that the Americans had earlier offered
Turkey $26 billion to help them invade Iraq, an offer which the self-respecting Turks had
refused). But now, our government can ask for compensation for those Pakistanis who
have been killed in this war.

The US pays $100,000 to the family of every American killed while fighting to defend
his or her country. We have lost about 80,000 people in a war which we never even
wanted, a war that was never ours to begin with. So why can’t we ask the Americans to
pay that amount ($8 billion) to the families of the people killed in this conflict? And if
they don’t agree, we can ask them to pack up and leave, goodbye to their “aid”!