SinghKing
Banned
Back in the early 1960's, Pakistan was seen as a model of economic development around the world, and there was much praise for its economic progress. Karachi was seen as an economic role model, and there was much praise for the way its economy was progressing, with many countries who sought to emulate Pakistan's economic planning strategy- foremost among them being South Korea, with Park Chung-hee's first 5-year Economic Development Plan- the foundation upon which South Korea's 'Miracle on the Han River' was built- actually copied directly from Karachi's second "Five-Year Plan".
Indeed, until Pakistan's propensity for authoritarian military dictatorship, and the commencing of the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965 after their foolhardy decision to launch Operation Gibraltar, led to the start of Pakistan's economic downfall and internal instability, Pakistan's economic growth stood at around 11.6% per annum, exceeding that of South Korea. And it was starting from a pretty similar base- compared to South Korea's GDP of US$2.7 billion in 1962, and nominal GDP per capita of $103.88, Pakistan's GDP stood at around US$5 billion at this time, with a nominal GDP per capita of $91.70 (excluding the population and economy of East Pakistan/Bangladesh).
So, how much larger could the Pakistani economy have potentially become by the present day in an ATL? Say, if the Pakistanis hadn't gone ahead with Operation Gibraltar, and they'd actually used their funding from the USA to help them fuel their continued economic development (instead of spending 99% of their funding from the USA on the Pakistani military, as they did IOTL). After all, South Korea's economic planning strategy, the 'Miracle on the Han River', was directly copied from Pakistan's own planned economic strategy- could you envision the Pakistanis pulling off their own 'Miracle on the Indus River' in an ATL? And if so, if they had managed to sustain their period of remarkable economic growth, parallelling that of South Korea IOTL- well, by the present day, Pakistan's nominal GDP could have either been the 7th largest in the world (larger than that of Brazil) or even the third largest in the world (managing to overtake Japan, if the increase in Pakistan's nominal GDP per capita parallels that of South Korea, and Pakistan's population still increases at the same rate that it did IOTL) by the present day. As such, does an ATL in which Pakistan's nominal GDP exceeds that of India still sound ASB? (And if Pakistan had lived up to the economic forecasts which were being made in the late 50's and early 60's, at the time when the USA established their special bilateral relationship with Pakistan in the first place, then how much more worthwhile would the USA's alliance with TTL's Pakistan be than their alliance with OTL's Pakistan has been?)
Indeed, until Pakistan's propensity for authoritarian military dictatorship, and the commencing of the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965 after their foolhardy decision to launch Operation Gibraltar, led to the start of Pakistan's economic downfall and internal instability, Pakistan's economic growth stood at around 11.6% per annum, exceeding that of South Korea. And it was starting from a pretty similar base- compared to South Korea's GDP of US$2.7 billion in 1962, and nominal GDP per capita of $103.88, Pakistan's GDP stood at around US$5 billion at this time, with a nominal GDP per capita of $91.70 (excluding the population and economy of East Pakistan/Bangladesh).
So, how much larger could the Pakistani economy have potentially become by the present day in an ATL? Say, if the Pakistanis hadn't gone ahead with Operation Gibraltar, and they'd actually used their funding from the USA to help them fuel their continued economic development (instead of spending 99% of their funding from the USA on the Pakistani military, as they did IOTL). After all, South Korea's economic planning strategy, the 'Miracle on the Han River', was directly copied from Pakistan's own planned economic strategy- could you envision the Pakistanis pulling off their own 'Miracle on the Indus River' in an ATL? And if so, if they had managed to sustain their period of remarkable economic growth, parallelling that of South Korea IOTL- well, by the present day, Pakistan's nominal GDP could have either been the 7th largest in the world (larger than that of Brazil) or even the third largest in the world (managing to overtake Japan, if the increase in Pakistan's nominal GDP per capita parallels that of South Korea, and Pakistan's population still increases at the same rate that it did IOTL) by the present day. As such, does an ATL in which Pakistan's nominal GDP exceeds that of India still sound ASB? (And if Pakistan had lived up to the economic forecasts which were being made in the late 50's and early 60's, at the time when the USA established their special bilateral relationship with Pakistan in the first place, then how much more worthwhile would the USA's alliance with TTL's Pakistan be than their alliance with OTL's Pakistan has been?)
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