Why doesn't the U.S. take credit for aiding Pakistan?

Why doesn't the U.S. take credit for aiding Pakistan?
David Ignatius, Washington Post Blog, October 4, 2010

Islamabad -- Hundreds of Americans have been working their butts off to help Pakistan cope with their flood disaster, and they haven't been getting much credit for it -- including from me.

I wrote last week from a village called Pir Sabak in northwestern Pakistan that U.S. flood relief wasn't evident there, or along the way. "The U.S. military has been working hard to provide flood assistance, but most of that is invisible to Pakistanis," I noted. That seemed to me to be a missed opportunity -- and characteristic of a weird misfire in U.S. public diplomacy. For a superpower, we can be oddly shy about advertising our good works.

I talked more about this problem with U.S. officials managing the relief effort, who felt their colleagues' work had been slighted. They're right; America has been making a big effort to help the flood victims, more than any other nation. But I'm more convinced than ever that the way we're doing it -- providing food aid through the U.N., for example, and focusing on transporting it rather than taking credit for its distribution -- reduces its public impact.

Here are some statistics that I didn't mention in my earlier column and should have: The U.S. government has provided a total of $362 million in aid; there are currently 26 U.S. military helicopters in Pakistan supporting relief efforts; four to six C-130 and C-17 cargo planes are transporting people and assistance every day; the U.S. has moved over 20,000 refugees and 13 million pounds of relief supplies.

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Related:
Behind Closed Doors by Steve Coll - the New Yorker
Can the Obama administration avoid a split with Pakistan? - Editorial, Washington Post
Eight Germans Reported Dead in U.S. Drone Attack on Militants in Pakistan - Bloomberg
Supply line closure strains US-Pakistan ties - Boston Globe