Pakistan: most anti-American country in world

Pak 'most anti-American country in world'

Press Trust Of India
Posted online: Saturday, February 19, 2005 at 1232 hours IST
Updated: Saturday, February 19, 2005 at 1248 hours IST

Washington, February 19: An updated analysis of Pakistan's domestic developments by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), which advises Congress, has described Pakistan as "probably the most anti-American country in the world", ranging from the "radical Islamists on one side to the liberals and Westernised elites on the other side."

Adding to US concerns about Pakistan's domestic political developments are increasing signs of "Islamisation" and anti-American sentiment, analyst K. Alan Kronstadt, who is in charge of Asian affairs for CRS, said in his report.

In another report on Pakistan, updated till Jan 28, 2005, Kronstadt says that "Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence is suspected of involvement in drug trafficking; in March 2003, a former US Ambassador to Pakistan told a House Internatinal Relations Committee panel that the role of the ISI in the heroin trade during 1997-2003 was "substantial." "Reports indicate that profits from drug sales are financing the activities of Islamic extremists in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir. Pakistan's counter-narcotics efforts are hampered by lack of full government commitment; scarcity of funds; poor infrastructure; government wariness ofprovoking unrest in tribal areas; and acute corruption," Kronstadt said.

The CRS report.