WASHINGTON: A leading Republican presidential candidate says that the United States should not use foreign aid to buy friends, noting that such efforts failed to buy the friendship of Pakistani people, it was reported.
“That’s not the proper use of foreign aid,” former Florida Governor Jeb Bush told the Fox news in an interview.
“Our foreign aid should reflect our values, should reflect our free market philosophy economically. We shouldn’t give aid to countries that deters their interest in reforming so that their people can rise up,” said Mr Bush, who is the son of one former US President and brother of another.
He said that trying to use foreign aid to win friends was not the “proper use of foreign aid”, and “that it never works”.
Earlier, the interviewer had asked Mr Bush why the people in Pakistan were so upset about strings attached to the US aid, as all donors attach conditions to the assistance they provide.
“It’s not going to work. It never works. Just evidence to the reaction of the Pakistanis that now feel entitled by it. Better to provide support that would allow an entrepreneur to be able to rise up,” Mr Bush said.
