 PESHAWAR: Washington has agreed to Islamabad’s request of not using the United States Agency for International Development logo or name in the USAID-funded projects in the Tribal Areas, official sources said on Monday. “The USAID or UN name or logo will not be used in development projects in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA),” sources in the FATA Civil Secretariat told Daily Times on the condition of anonymity. Mentioning the names of UN or USAID would make tribal people believe that a project was taking place with the help of US money and it would derail the whole project, they said.
| I've got a great idea! How about if we never, ever, under any circumstances give those ingrates any money at all, for anything? That way they'll never have to look at a U.S. symbol on something we buy them. |
Strong anti-US feelings swept across seven tribal districts along the Afghanistan border since the US ousted the Taliban regime in Kabul weeks after terrorist attacked Washington and New York in September 2001.
| No skin off my fore. They need the money, they don't like us.Maybe somebody they like will give them money. |
The US will spent $300 million on various projects, including dams, roads, schools and hospitals, in seven tribal districts.
Pakistan and the US have agreed that 25 percent of the amount would be spent through local non-government organisations, and government departments would spend the rest of it, according to the sources.
Pakistan disagrees: Earlier, Pakistan disagreed with a US plan of winning the hearts and minds of tribal people like it has been doing in Afghanistan. “We disagreed with the US, which wanted to repeat Afghanistan’s model in Pakistan,” FATA Development Authority Chief Executive Saleem Mohmand told Daily Times. He said allowing the US to execute the “hearts and minds strategy” would have undermined Islamabad’s presence in the Tribal Areas. “Pakistan is not Afghanistan where the state writ is only limited to key cities,” he said.
| "Pakistain is a distinct country, where the state writ is totally ineffective everywhere!" |
Check and balance: Regarding USAID officialsÂ’ fears that 25 percent of the money might reach the hands of Al Qaeda or the Taliban if no proper check and balance system was enforced, Saleem said a strong accountability system would ensure that funds didnÂ’t land in the wrong hands.
"What kind of accountability system?"
"Oh, a strong one! Very strong!" |
He said the people of Tribal Areas had changed their mindset and that they were no more “allergic” to the word development, which they had perceived as “an attack on their autonomy and freedom” three decades ago. “Now they ask the government to develop their areas. This is a remarkable change,” he said. |
