A majority of Pakistanis view the United States as an enemy, oppose the US-led war in Afghanistan and are less concerned about the Taliban and Al-Qaeda than a year ago, a Pew Research poll said Thursday.
Despite billions of dollars in economic and military aid received from Washington, the United States' image in Pakistan was the lowest among the 22 nations included in the 2010 Pew Global Attitudes Survey of 2,000 Pakistanis taken between April 13-28.
Fifty-nine percent of the respondents described the United States an enemy, with 17 percent having a favorable view and only 11 percent considering it a partner, the poll said.
Only eight percent trusted US President Barack Obama to do the right thing in world affairs, the lowest rating of the 22-nation survey, and only 20 percent had a favorable view of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, down from 64 percent two years ago.
Most Pakistanis also oppose US involvement in neighboring Afghanistan, with 65 percent saying US and NATO troops should be withdrawn as soon as possible, and relatively few believe the Taliban and Al-Qaeda pose a serious threat to their country.
Only 25 percent thought it would be bad for Pakistan if the Taliban were to again take over Afghanistan, while 18 percent thought it would be a good thing and 57 percent said it did not matter or had no opinion.
The respondents were less concerned about either group getting the upper hand in Pakistan: the Taliban was rated as a serious threat by 54 percent, against 73 percent last year, and Al-Qaeda's threat perception fell to 38 percent, from 61 percent.
Nevertheless, Pew noted, both groups still had an overall negative image in Pakistan with the Taliban getting a 65 percent unfavorable rating and Al-Qaeda 53 percent.
When asked which was the bigger threat, Taliban, Al-Qaeda or India, 53 percent chose neighboring India over 23 percent for the Taliban and only three percent for Al-Qaeda.
Despite Washington's poor rating, most Pakistanis (64 percent) believe it is important to improve relations with their powerful ally, up from 53 percent last year, Pew Research said.
And about their own country, 84 percent of the Pakistanis surveyed by Pew were dissatisfied with the state of their nation; only 14 percent were satisfied.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved.
So as far as drawing a conclusion is concerned, USA is seen far from being an ally of Pakistan, the general public, in reality abhors the States and its constant nose-poking in their country's matters. Not to mention the punctuating Do More(s)!. The USA's has tarnished its image in the eyes of a conventional Pakistani, probably to an unrepairable state, so much so that the terrorists get the back seat in the aforementioned poll results.
Moreover the current position of Pakistan is not a likable one, power-cuts, climbing inflation rates, increased expenditure on services and the dark cloud of terrorism that looms over every Pakistani. Therefore understandably, a normal person won't like his/her government when the living conditions take such a shape, couple it with the reports of corruption, the tug-of-war between the judiciary and the government and the general insensitivity of the politicians to their peoples' woes and you have a recipe for a loathsome government.
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