Money Is Not The Matter, Mr Holbrooke

Mr Holbrooke and other officials of the US administration have been trying to arrange more money for the rulers of Pakistan, but the situation is going to worst from bad as the terrorists have increased their activities. The state is still providing support to terrorists.

At the moment Pakistani establishment is divided into groups, the one is providing support to terrorists and the other one is fighting a war against them. The tug of war in the establishment is a source of terrorism in Pakistan. The main problem of Pakistan is the rampant corruption. The rulers of Pakistan have been fighting the war for the dollars. If the US continues funding the corrupt rulers of Pakistan then terrorism will be strengthened. Stop funding the rulers of Pakistan as they are the main reason for terrorism. At the moment state of Pakistan has been promoting and breeding terrorism. Mr Holbrooke will stop supporting the corrupt rulers. Come to the people if you are really serious in winning the war on terror.

        Pakistan needs further international support, US special envoy Richard Holbrooke said on Saturday as he warned that a pledge of five billion dollars was 'not enough' to stabilise the troubled nation.

        At an aid meeting in Tokyo on Friday, donor countries pledged a total of 5.28 billion dollars to stabilise Pakistan, seen as a frontline state against Islamic extremism.

        The United States and Japan pledged one billion dollars each at the meeting Tokyo co-hosted with the World Bank.

        'Five billion dollars is not enough,' said Holbrooke, US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

        'The terrorists in western Pakistan are planning other attacks around the world ... so we need to work hard to strengthen the government of Pakistan, to deal with the tribal areas with all its problems,' he said. 'We should – after congratulating the result yesterday – we should be very mindful of the fact that the problem is far from over,' he said.

        He declined to give a figure on how much money was required to stabilise Pakistan, but noted that some economists say the number 'is as high as 50 billion dollars.' More than half of Pakistan's people live below the poverty line of two dollars a day and 'even in great cities like Karachi – which I would point out is the world's largest Muslim city – 17 million people (live) with only a few hours of electricity a day,' he added.

        'I can't set a specific goal for 2012,' when Obama's term ends, said Holbrooke. But I will say this: the situation in Afghanistan cannot be the same in 2012.'

        'The measurement of success in Afghanistan is returning the security responsibility to the local security authorities,' he said.

        'Pakistan is even more difficult. There is a clear red line laid out publicly by the government. No foreign boots of the troops on that ground in Pakistan.

        'So it's up to Pakistan to defend itself with the international assistance for economic and military,' he said.

        He said the people fighting alongside the Taliban were divided into three groups, led by a small group of 'hard-core

        Taliban who has extreme views on things like women's rights, sharia law.'

         The second group were those who joined the militants 'because they have grievances against the government' over corruption or military operations that killed family members, while the third group was a large number of people who fought for the Taliban because they paid more than the Afghan army.

         'When you talk about reconciliation, it's reaching out to those last two groups,' Holbrooke said.

                Source: dawn.com