May 9, 2011
Why are we providing some $1.5 billion per year in development
assistance to a country that couldn’t be bothered to find bin
Laden? Now that Osama is dead, what the heck are we still doing in
Pakistan?
On this special edition of the Global Prosperity Wonkcast I asked
these provocative questions of Nancy Birdsall, president of the
Center for Global Development. For the past year, Nancy has
led a high-level
study group evaluating the U.S. development strategy in
Pakistan, and has written a series of open letters. One of the
main themes of the work has been that the United States should be
modest and cautious about what development aid to Pakistan can
achieve. Nonetheless, following a recent trip to Pakistan, and
notwithstanding U.S. suspicions that elements of Pakistan’s
security forces might have been complicit in hiding Bin Laden,
Nancy maintains that sustaining aid to Pakistan is in the United
States’ own national interest.
For a full summary of this week's wonkcast go to www.cgdev.org/wonkcast.