US policies make Pakistan enemy no one

The United States has alienated entire Pakistan country and made itself into public enemy number one by having an overbearing approach with Pakistan, a newpaper article has said. Headlined 'How Pakistanis perceive America' in The Express Tribune said the recent withdrawal of 800m dollars of military aid to Pakistan by America highlights the transactional nature of the relationship between the two countries. “One had hoped that the Obama administration would move away from this myopic relationship, but that does not appear to be the case,” the article by analyst Daniyal Noorani said. The article referred to a recent study by Pew Research Centre, which says that 62 per cent of Pakistanis oppose US-led efforts to fight terrorism and only 37 per cent support the use of the Pakistan Army to fight extremists. “If America wants a long-term solution to the instability in the region, it must make efforts to convince Pakistanis that military operations are in their favour, as opposed to strong-arming Pakistan into action”. The article said that time and again the US has not acknowledged Pakistan's sacrifices.” This apparent lack of sympathy by America results in Pakistanis viewing America as arrogant and self-serving. This has led to 73 per cent of Pakistanis viewing the US negatively and 69 per cent of Pakistanis viewing America as more of an enemy than a friend”. The article said that if the US wants to continue engaging with Pakistan as an ally, it would be pertinent for it to be more sympathetic and appreciative of the efforts taken by Pakistan. The writer said that in the US media and government, one would be hard-pressed to find anyone saying anything positive about Pakistan, even though it is the country that has suffered the most with more than 30,000 casualties in the war.