The US has given 2 billion dollars to Pakistan to redecorate its armories and weapons depots.
All the money that the Pakistani budget itself reassigned to the worthy cause was obviously not enough. While it eats up a significant percentage of our GDP, it almost eats up all of our foreign aid. Its the height of irony that a country starving to death with a crippling infrastructure is begging for money for arms. If we are losing our dignity, might as well get a few F-16s out of the deal.
The fight against terrorism is undoubtedly important but the fact that it is draining all our resources is not. If the US is just going to give us military aid, it should think back to the military aid it gave us back in the 80s which led to the militarisation of the areas which are now labeled as terrorist havens. Feeding the establishments appetite for arms will never solve the problem in the long run. I wish the US would realise that and give aid that would help our HDI rather than our arms budget.
SHAMA ASIF
Lahore
