Foreign aid workers should be restricted from entering Pakistan

For more than a year now I've been reading of incidents of foreign aid workers being abducted, assaulted and even murdered in Pakistan. It is well known that the Taliban and other terrorist militants don't check their targets prior to abducting, assaulting or killing them.

But also what is well known is that they target foreigners more so than locals at any given opportunity. Foreigners are much more vulnerable targets than locals since they don't really know much of the whereabouts in large cities, have little or no knowledge of the local languages and how to ensure their own personal safety.

Even local criminal gangs not involved with any political terrorist groups also prefer to abduct foreigners instead of locals. This is true for most third world countries.

Another reason for them being more prone targets is due to the growing anti-Western sentiments in the Pakistani population, particularly anti-American. And thanks to the CIA claiming they've used their agents under the guise of aid workers, they are now more desirable targets for the militants.

There is also the reason that many uneducated people in the third world have the stereotype that all Westerners are rich and so provide good kidnapping ransom.

Even though not all or even most of the aid workers are Western, them being foreign still makes them more vulnerable. With all the reports coming in of them being attacked, it is time for aid agencies to withdraw all foreign aid workers from the country.

Also with so many people in Pakistan looking for jobs, it's better that locals are trained and employed in this profession. I understand that most people in Pakistan are not trained in job skills so agencies will be reluctant to hire them.

But the solution is still to train and hire locals with good references and recognitions. There is no point of giving the job to foreigners who will only be attacked and therefor not be able to get their jobs done.

These foreigners getting abducted and/or killed also adds more burden on our law enforcement agencies who already have enough problems to deal with.

Sending foreign aid workers into Pakistan at times like these is a bad idea to begin with. Hopefully reviewing the incidents, both aid agencies and the Pakistani government will not make these mistakes again.