WASHINGTON - High levels of anti-Americanism in Pakistan have “handicapped” US efforts to support development in the South Asian nation, The Washington Times reported on Tuesday, citing a new study.The report by the Center for Global Development urged the US to work with the World Bank and other international aid agencies with programmes in Pakistan.Recent polls have found high levels of anti-Americanism among Pakistanis, fuelled in part by US drone strikes on suspected terrorists in the tribal border region bordering Afghanistan. A survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project earlier this year found roughly three-in-four Pakistanis consider the US an enemy.Milan Vaishnav, a co-author of the report, said, “because security concerns dominate US policy towards Pakistan, there is no consensus across government agencies on the US development strategy.”Yet Pakistan is far too important for the US to walk away from, the report said, recommending continued engagement and realistic expectations.“We recommend a more clear and explicit commitment on the part of the administration and the Congress to strengthening the dialogue with Pakistani civilian counterparts on that country’s tremendous economic, social, and natural resource policy challenges,” Nancy Birdsall, the center President, said in the report.The report recommends extending by five years US non-military aid to Pakistan authorised by a law sponsored by Senator John Kerry, Massachusetts Democratic, Senator Richard Lugar, Indiana Republican, and Congressman Howard Berman, California Democrat. The bill authorised $1.5 billion a year over five years.Since the passage of the legislation in October 2009, the US government has disbursed $2.8 billion in civilian assistance, including roughly $1 billion in emergency humanitarian assistance to Pakistan, according to the State Department.“The problem is not just the tumultuous environment in Pakistan,” the report said.“It is also a matter of self-inflicted wounds: unrealistic expectations associated with new money (more money, in retrospect, brought on more not fewer problems); the system-wide shortcomings of US aid programmes throughout the world; and the political difficulty of dealing with a reluctant Congress on new trade and private sector support programmes for developing countries.”

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