Pakistan's Public Attitude toward the United States

Abstract

Except in the communist countries, the United States' image in the wor Id was fairly good when it decided to widen its involvement in world affairs after World War II. However, even in the noncommunist world certain countries and their people gradually developed an antipathy towards the United States. Before World War II there were occasional anti-American acts of violence and public protest. They increased greatly in number, scope, and virulence in the 1950s and especially the 1960s (Tai et al., 1973: 456). The latter part of the 1960s was characterized by world-wide protests and demonstrations against the United States, especially against its Vietnam policy. This antagonism led quite a number of writers to probe into the nature of the anti-American feelings, and they produced a variety of interpretations of the general hostility prevailing against this superpower (e.g., Lillibridge, 1966; Mazrui, 1969; Morgan, 1967; Nincic, 1975; Scheuch, 1970; Tai et al., 1973). This phenomenon acquired new dimensions in its intensity and virulence during the 1970s. The most recent example is that of Iran, where people have shown an intense hostility, hatred, and anger against the United States that is probably unprecedented in the era following World War II. No less surprising was the instance of the burning and looting of the U.S. embassy in Islamabad. Pakistan, a member of both the Southeast Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO) and the Central Treaty Organiza-