The IMF, the U.S. War on Terrorism, and Pakistan

Abstract

D id the United States intervene to approve the final disbursement of Pakistan's International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan as a reward for supporting the U.S.led war on terrorism? The United States clearly wanted to reward Pakistan both financially and politically for joining the United States in the war on terrorism. Moreover, in the past, the IMF has been politicized to achieve U.S. foreign policy objectives. Pakistan's loan approval, which occurred immediately after the September 11 attacks, however, already was slated to be approved by the IMF executive board. In this case, there is little evidence of American interference with or politicization of the approval of the final disbursement of Pakistan's IMF loan.