“Farmers are very grateful for the US help,” said Muzaffar Khan Khakwani, the owner of a mango farm near the central Pakistani city of Multan that is benefiting from US aid. “It’s not just the financial help. It’s the capacity building and the exposure of farmers to well managed orchards.”
But it remains to be seen how quickly Pakistan can benefit from Clinton’s recently announced initiative. India had trouble with logistics and pricing when it first tried to export its mangoes to the US.
It is even more uncertain whether US aid will really dent anti-US sentiment in Pakistan and motivate the government to step up support for the Afghan war, a move the Pakistanis have resisted for years.
RSS