In a bid to streamline diplomacy and foreign aid, the State Department will "fundamentally change our management approach by turning to the expertise of other federal agencies where appropriate -- before engaging private contractors," according to the department's inaugural quadrennial review.

The Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), was led by the state department and USAid to look at how diplomacy and development can work together more effectively. It was leaked ahead of schedule last month.

A new study by the World Bank’s Jishnu Das and Pomona College’s Tahir Andrabi titled In Aid We Trust: Hearts and Minds and the Pakistan Earthquake of 2005 reiterates that humanitarian aid can win local favour. The study shows that those Pakistanis who interacted with aid workers after the 2005 earthquake retained positive impressions and high levels of trust in westerners four years after that calamity.

The US has been generous to Pakistan in its times of need, but deep-seated hostility towards Washington won't change if people suspect that humanitarian aid has a hidden agenda.

Foreign aid is a much cheaper way of conducting a country’s foreign policy than the military — and in many cases it can be much more effective, too. The Obama administration is very keen on this...

A policy of branding U.S. aid to flood-ravaged Pakistan is risking the security of aid workers working in the Islamic nation, according to a group of relief organizations. Eleven aid agencies including Oxfam, Save the Children, World Vision and CARE International warn that using a “stars and stripes” logo on U.S.-funded assistance compromises their neutrality in a nation mired in anti-U.S. sentiments.

The U.S. relationship with Pakistan offers a perfect example of a dysfunctional relationship that neither side seems willing to end. During the Cold War the United States had an on again, off again relationship with Pakistan, hoping that a pious nation would counter communist influence.

President Ma Ying-jeou says Taiwan has become a donor country as the island has sponsored more than 280,000 children around the world. These children are the equivalent of more than one percent of Taiwan's population. The president himself has sponsored more than 10 children.