No Lollipops Here

It would appear that the people of Pakistan are either greedy or have a very short memory. The BBC quotes a Pakistan paper as saying,

"President Bush alone knows exactly why he visited Pakistan. But Pakistanis generally feel that he has not even given a lollipop to Pakistan.

No resolution of the Kashmir dispute, no road map for democracy, no appreciation of Pakistan's energy needs and no attempts to cool down tempers over the blasphemous cartoons.

It was being generally thought that President Bush's visit is aimed at strengthening President Musharraf personally, so that he may continue his fight against terrorism. But only time will tell Mr Bush has ended up strengthening or weakening his friend."

It seems that they forgot the lollipop they got from the US for supporting the war on terrorism - not only did they receive armaments to fight the war, they also received a boost to their economy when the US

"provided aid and loans to Pakistan that helped the benchmark Karachi Stock Exchange index climb ninefold since then. Bush's visit is also expected to further encourage overseas investment and give a boost to Pakistan's economy, which expanded 8.4 percent in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2005, the fastest pace in 20 years, and is forecast to grow about 7 percent this year."

No indeedy, President Bush is not the lollipop king. Especially, for a country that only recently (as in the last couple of weeks - an anticipated visit from Bush can be motivating) has picked up that fight against the Taliban after virtually months of lackluster success. They have Afghanistan bemoaning their inability to stop the penetration of Taliban into Afghanistan, plus retaliatory strikes within their own borders by coalition forces (which Pakistan had the nerve to complain about) occurring because of their inability (or complacency) in dealing with the terrorists themselves... for this they want lollipops?

What Pakistan really wants is a nuclear deal. That is a big lollipop. For a country that is run by a dictator who prides himself on his security that has stopped four attempts on his life, that has an overwhelming problem with terrorism within their own borders, that has no semblance of progressive social tendencies (i.e. anti-cartoon protests and anti-Bush protests) a lollipop that big would be wasted.

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