The U.S. and Pakistan

THE U.S. AND PAKISTAN….PIPA has released another in its ongoing series of public opinion surveys in foreign countries, and today’s survey is from Pakistan. Generally speaking, it shows that Pakistanis want their country to be more Islamic, more democratic, and less corrupt. Support for religious extremism is low but nontrivial.

But the question on the right is the one that caught my eye. It’s not surprising these days to see extreme distrust of the United States in Islamic countries, but not only did Pakistanis rate the U.S. presence in Asia and Afghanistan as Pakistan’s biggest threat, they rated it as a higher threat than tensions with India. Crikey. When you beat out even the long-hated Indians as Pakistanis’ biggest worry, you’re in big trouble.