“‘If the US extends the trade relief, Pakistan will easily be able to reduce the terrorist activities in the country,’ he added.” From the Daily Times, with thanks to Nicolei, who puts his finger on the problem by asking: “Have they asked why the Islamic militants are killing people who are helping to rebuild Iraq? Will the US be conned?”
What do you bet the US will indeed be conned? And this is because — again — of the refusal to face the realities of what we are up against. For one thing, study after study has shown that jihad terrorists are generally not poor and desperate, but wealthier and better educated than their peers. So the US, blithely ignoring those studies, is considering alleviating poverty — and, thereby, terrorism — in Pakistan. Brilliant.
ISLAMABAD: The United States has started considering Pakistan’s proposals to alleviate poverty and curb terrorism from the country in general and from tribal and border areas (between Pakistan and Afghanistan) in particular, Federal Commerce Secretary Tasneem Noorani told Daily Times in an exclusive interview on Monday.
Tasneem had returned from the US where he held negotiations with senior officials on Pakistan’s proposals to eliminate activities pertaining to terrorism, which springs from poverty.
“Pakistan proposed two ideas to eliminate activities pertaining to terrorism, which springs from poverty,” Tasneem said, adding that Pakistan proposed that if industrial zones were established in various locations in the four federating units poverty would reduce there and ultimately reduce the trend of subversive activities across the country. He said Pakistan was seeking the special duty free access in the US market for the products to be manufactured in the industrial zones. “If the US extends the trade relief, Pakistan will easily be able to reduce the terrorist activities in the country,” he added.
Easily! After almost four years of promises from Musharraf that he would soon eliminate the terrorists, or had already, now it all depends on US aid. And over at State the learned experts are taking this seriously.