We as a country have a strange history of giving foreign aid to countries in need. Sometimes it is out of sympathy or sometimes it is a desperate bid to paint a positive image of our country. We have clearly done this the wrong way and seem to continue to do it this way.
Take for example the recent earthquake in Haiti. Pakistan sent both aid and support teams consisting of doctors, aid workers etc. What has Haiti done for us? It is not that I oppose giving aid to those in need, but shouldn't countries that helped us come first? Is not your obligation as a country or even as an individual to first help those who have helped you in your time of need?
So what were we doing when European countries suffered from floods more than once in the past ten years? Europe has given Pakistan millions, perhaps billions of dollars of aid this past decade.
Aside from our people residing in these countries contributing aid and volunteering to help, Pakistan officially never provided any as far as I know. And if we didn't my best guess is that it was on the basis that we are a poor country and can't afford to spare much money.
But strangely enough we gave aid to Haiti, provided three million dollars to the Palestinian Authority in early 2006. Today we waste goodness knows how many millions of dollars on building universities and hospitals in Afghanistan in a failed bid to win popularity there and to counter Indian influence there.
How long does it take our government and people to learn from history to the present day? Afghans have hated us since our independence because they refuse to accept the Durand Line.
Because of this they have attempted to wage several wars against us in an effort to "take back" what they wrongly perceive as theirs. We have hosted the largest Afghan population living abroad for more than twenty years and our image hasn't changed the slightest bit amongst them. Instead we suffer from the problem caused by these refugees.
Even if not for a common alliance with India on the basis of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," Afghans will never show the least bit of gratitude to Pakistanis.
Instead of wasting millions of dollars on countries that could not and/or did not help us, we should have spent this on helping Europe when dealing with floods themselves or any other natural disaster.
Not only would it have given us an image in Europe besides being a beggar nation so dependent on their charity, but also a reliable partner in Asia. One that not only returns the favor in times of need, but also a useful country to trade with and invest in.
We gave aid to Turkey and China in times of need because they are our closest allies. In these cases we are right to do so considering they have done much for us, especially in times of need. Iran is not considered an ally, nor is it a trustworthy neighbor, but we also remember to return help when in need.
Imagine what we could have achieved by spending the same amounts we waste on Afghanistan or other countries that give us nothing useful in return. If we were a rich and strong country that could afford to help any other country in need, then by all means I would welcome that, but we are not so we have to be careful how we spend our aid.
We are sadly an overpopulated, impoverished third world country with a limited budget. Even when richer countries than us like the Russian Federation suffered what was possibly the worst set of heat waves in it's recorded history, causing terrible destruction and taking thousands of lives.
But regardless of all this, it sent aid to Pakistan which was suffering from devastating floods at the same time.
Above: A freighter version of a Boeing 747-400 owned by Air Bridge Cargo delivering aid to Pakistan on behalf of the Russian government. Click on images to enlarge.
I really hate to think this plane(s) flew back empty. This was all despite the Russian Federation in grave problems at the time and receiving aid itself from other countries. If only we had been more sensible, we could have donated some simple products that we produce such as medical instruments or any other equipment we could spare from fire proof suits to oxygen masks since we ourselves were not suffering from massive fires or heatwaves at the time. The plane's return flight would not have been an empty one had we done this.
Not sending aid to those who helped us several times in the past while spending/wasting aid on those who never helped us is not only bad gesture, but also morally puts us in dept to those who have.
As for Afghanistan, we don't need to waste out money to "improve" our already tainted image in that country. Granted we have our own interests in Afghanistan to fend off political partnerships and installations planted there by our enemies as well as making future preparations to use that country as a trade route between Pakistan and Central Asia, we are going about this the wrong way.
Should Afghanistan bother us or try to blackmail us in the future with the help of another country, we can fight fire with fire. And if the Afghans threaten to cut us off from Central Asia, we can place an embargo that will be much more damaging for that landlocked country.
I also doubt Central Asian states will be happy of being cut off from the outside world due to Afghanistan's stubbornness and will probably impose an embargo on Afghanistan well. This will further isolate Afghanistan even more till it decides to be reasonable again.
We have to realize that we are the country with the advantage, not Afghanistan. We are a nuclear power, not Afghanistan. We have access to open sea, not Afghanistan.
We do not need to bribe the Afghans with wasted charity to stop them from playing their dirty political proxy games against us. All we need to show them is we turn the tables on them, and we did so in the past.
Our reckless policy of wasting what precious money we can spare to satisfy our obsession of Islamic Ummah or some other useless cause sadly cannot be reversed. But it can serve as a good lesson for returning help to those who did it for us in the past. That is what Islam encourages.
Is it not a contradiction that we call ourselves Muslims but do not live by basic Islamic principles of returning help to those who have given it to us? Instead we divert help to those who simply share this belief as "fellow Muslims" but don't live by it.
We call ourselves Muslim, the Muslims we help for the sake of being Muslims or at least calling themselves Muslim, but we are unwilling to live up by our Islamic principles by not giving aid to countries we owe; hence we contradict ourselves by playing the religious card and not spending our foreign aid the way we should be.
