Majority of Pakistanis says U.S. is greatest threat: The Hill

By Bridget Johnson

A poll released Sunday revealed that despite the massive amounts of aid directed toward Pakistan in this administration, Pakistanis peg the U.S. as a far greater threat than the Taliban and even archenemy India.

The poll of more than 2,500 Pakistanis, conducted across rural and urban areas at the end of July by Gallup Pakistan for Al-Jazeera, found that 41 percent favored their government's military operation against the Taliban, while 22 percent claimed neutrality and 24 percent opposed.

But only 9 percent approved of U.S. strikes by unmanned drones against Taliban and al-Qaeda targets. National Security Adviser James Jones said Sunday that the U.S. is 90 percent confident that Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of Pakistan's Taliban, was killed when a drone fired at the house of Mehsud's father-in-law on Wednesday.

"Mehsud was a very bad individual, a real thug," Jones said.

Pakistanis, though, fingered the U.S. as the enemy in the poll.

A whopping 59 percent -- a figure that cut fairly evenly across party lines, gender, language and age -- said that the U.S. is the greatest threat to Pakistan. Only 11 percent named the Taliban, and 18 percent said India was the greatest threat. Twelve percent responded "don't know."

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