Most Pakistanis View U.S. as Enemy, Want War Over, Survey Finds
July 29, 2010, 12:52 PM EDT
By Nicole Gaouette
July 29 (Bloomberg) -- Two-thirds of Pakistanis oppose the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and roughly six in 10 think the U.S. is an enemy, according to a new survey.
The data, released today by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center in Washington, underscores the challenges facing the Obama administration, which has made Pakistan a key ally in its fight to rout Afghanistan-based Taliban and al-Qaeda militants.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Pakistan this month to announce aid of $1.5 billion a year for five years that is meant to build Pakistani support for the U.S. war strategy. By the end of fiscal 2010, the U.S. will have given Pakistan about $6 billion in development and humanitarian aid since 2001, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
“You cannot succeed in Afghanistan without Pakistan’s involvement,” Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan told senators who question the level and effectiveness of that aid on July 13. “There’s a direct correlation between Afghanistan, Pakistan and our homeland security.”
The Pew survey found that only 11 percent of Pakistanis see the U.S. as a partner and just 8 percent have confidence that President Barack Obama will make good decisions on global affairs.
Resisting Terrorists
Clinton said June 25 that the U.S. is determined to “strengthen Afghanistan and Pakistan to be able to withstand the pressures from these extremist terrorist networks.”
Yet the percentage of Pakistanis who support U.S. involvement in the fight against extremists has dropped to 19 percent this year from 24 percent in 2009.
And fewer Pakistanis see the militants as a threat. In 2009, 57 percent of Pakistanis saw the Taliban as a “very serious threat” to their country. This year, the number fell to 34 percent. Last year, 41 percent said al-Qaeda posed a very serious threat to Pakistan. This year, 21 percent of respondents felt that way.
In contrast, 52 percent said India posed the greatest threat to their country.
“Pakistan has a long history of feeling like the U.S. has abandoned it, favored India, has not been a consistent ally,” said Anthony Cordesman, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a nonpartisan research group in Washington.
“Many Pakistanis associate the violence in Pakistan with the U.S. presence and the Afghan war,” Cordesman said. Those attitudes are reinforced by nationalistic media and hard-line religious groups and because Pakistanis have yet to feel the effects of U.S. aid, Cordesman said.
‘Legacy of Suspicion’
Clinton, during her visit to Pakistan, acknowledged a “legacy of suspicion” among Pakistanis. It is “not going to disappear overnight,” she said.
The U.S. is “committed for the long haul” to working with Pakistanis “as you pursue this very difficult struggle,” she said July 19 after talks with Pakistani officials.
The Pakistani survey is part of the larger Pew Global Attitudes project conducted in 22 nations.
Pew said its survey was based on face-to-face interviews with 2,000 Pakistanis conducted from April 13 to April 28 in all four provinces of the country. Areas of instability, accounting for roughly 16 percent of the population, were not polled. The margin of error was plus or minus three percentage points.
Most Pakistanis see US as an enemy: poll
(AFP) –
WASHINGTON — 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.
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Zardari's ratings plummet to all-time-low of 20 percent in poll
2010-07-30 13:10:00
A new poll has revealed that only one in five Pakistanis view President Asif Ali Zardari favourably, while the country's Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani is high on the country's popularity charts .
According to the Pew Global Attitudes Project poll, only 20 percent saw Zardari positively, down from 64 percent in a poll two years ago.
In contrast to Zardari's ratings, Kayani had a 61 per cent favorability score.
Meanwhile, Zardari's prime rival and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had a 71 percent favorability rating.
The survey also suggests that Pakistanis have next to no confidence in US President Barack Obama, as his favorability rating was just eight per cent.
The US-led war in neighboring Afghanistan was also widely opposed by Pakistanis with nearly two-thirds - 65 per cent - wanting U.S. and NATO troops to leave as soon as possible, The Dawn reports.
The poll surveyed 2,000 Pakistanis, and has a margin of error of plus or minus three percent. (ANI)
