ss <[email protected]> writes: > If you actually read chapters on the people, the economy, the army, wars, > islam and jihad (as well as the foreword and last chapter) you will get some > idea of why "economic success and stability" never came to Pakistan despite > several billions of US dollars in aid in the 1960s, plus a free Air Force of > F 86 Sabres and F-104s.
No country ever becomes rich through foreign aid or military hardware. Countries become rich through improvements to trade, which in most countries these days requires substantial reduction in government interference in trade. Pakistan's economy will remain a basket case until it embraces deregulation and free trade. Both of these are unlikely events, but it doesn't make it less true that it is what is required. One of the saddest reports I heard after the Taliban was overthrown in Afghanistan was of a small town where the local warlord had decreed that no one could buy bricks for rebuilding from anyone but his family, which would happily overcharge for them. I realized that the latest revolution was doomed right then. This is the way countries are lost to poverty and terrorism, but few people seem to see it. An equally sad report for me came just after the Iraqi government was overthrown by the US military. A South African entrepreneur had arrived in Bagdad with his small fleet of jets, proposing to start shuttle service between Bagdad, Amman and some other regional cities. He was informed by the US military that he couldn't start his service because they had not yet decided who to give a monopoly on air transport to. At that point, I realized that the Iraqi adventure would end in blood, though I don't think most other observers would have seen what I saw. Perry -- Perry E. Metzger [email protected]
