Speaking at US Institute of Peace, the US top diplomat said that Obama administration saw the ultimate passage of the $7.5 billion five-year economic assistance package-the Kerry-Lugar Bill-as a ‘great milestone in our relationship’.
She said that the ‘US is hoping to be a good partner for not just the Government of Pakistan, but more importantly, the people of Pakistan’.
Hillary further elaborated: ‘I think we have, as a government, not done a very good job in responding to what you rightly call propaganda, misinformation, even in some instances disinformation, about our motivations and our actions in Pakistan. That became clear to me as we were doing our review, and I saw how often there were stories in the Pakistani media that were totally untrue, but we were not responding as effectively as we need to’.
‘We have, under Judith McHale, our Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy, undertaken a very thorough analysis of what better we could do, and we are moving very rapidly to try to fill that void. We have a new team going into Pakistan. A Public Affairs officer may be already there. We have adopted a new approach, which is we do not leave any misstatement or inaccuracy unanswered. It may be that people won’t believe it at first, but we intend to counter a lot of this propaganda with the best weapon we have; namely, the truth. And we’re going to be much more aggressive in interacting with the Pakistani media’, she added.
Sounds like Hillary has thoroughly informed herself of all facets of the communication problems, and has developed a comprehensive plan to address each of them. I love that she always gives credit to the others involved with a particular project/initiative. Always thorough and professional.
I looked for comments at the conclusion of this article, as The Nation and its readers have not been kind to Hillary in the past. No comments yet.
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It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union.... Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less. ~Susan B. Anthony
Its about time the US is countering propaganda in Pakistan. I am not saying to kiss a$$ but we should not be allowing the terrorists to gain more of a following by spreading propaganda. I am glad Hillary is doing this