U.S. aid under fire in Pakistan border area

[Pirate Smile]

Source: Associated Press


Pakistanis displaced from the tribal region of Bajur line up to receive donated food at the Jalozai refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan, on Feb. 13. U.S. efforts to pump millions of aid dollars into northwest Pakistan have barely begun because of militant attacks on development workers, fears of corruption and dragging bureaucracy.

ISLAMABAD - A major U.S. effort to erode support for the Taliban and al-Qaida by pumping millions of aid dollars into the violence-wracked Pakistan-Afghan border region is being threatened by attacks on aid workers, corruption and layers of bureaucracy.

The Obama administration has pledged to use development aid as a foreign policy tool, and is expected to unveil a new increase in assistance before April. But there are concerns about how the money is being spent in remote valleys too dangerous for foreign aid workers to venture and where residents risk a beheading if they cross the militants.

A Taliban commander in the North Waziristan border region warned residents last month to shun the "sweet poison" of development aid. "Wait for the consequences, if anybody accepts anything," Gul Bahadur warned in a leaflet.

Three years after the Bush administration pledged $750 million for the impoverished tribal belt, people associated with the effort told The Associated Press that a clutch of education and road-building projects are finally getting under way.
Washington has cloaked its efforts in secrecy, forgoing an opportunity to show off a kinder American face in order to protect its staff and contractors.

The danger of operating openly was made brutally evident in November, when suspected militants killed American aid worker Stephen Vance as he drove to work in Peshawar. The top U.S. diplomat there survived a similar attack in August.
The attacks have complicated the task of winning the hearts and minds of the northwest's fiercely independent tribes.




Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29415610/

[ConcernedCanuk]

1. "opportunity to show off a kinder American face " - well stop bombing them maybe??

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.
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USA has consistently shrugged off civilian deaths as "collateral damage" in their attempts to kill the bad guys

Kill 10 bad guys - ok - kill ONE civilian in that crowd

they just made more bad guys

DUMB - DUMB DUMB DUMB!~

USA just don't "get it"

They are creating future enemies by the thousands with their sloppy bombings

so it will continue for generations as the children grow up remembering the American weapons that maimed and killed their loved ones

THERE IS NO IMMEDIATE SOLUTION

USA is just gonna have to get the fuck out of some of these countries and live with the hatred for a generation or so -

OR STAY - and live with the hatred FOREVER!!