GHAZI AIR BASE, Pakistan – The United States will increase its aid to flood-ravaged Pakistan to $150 million, U.S. Sen. John Kerry said Thursday, stressing that Washington did not want Islamist extremism to increase on the back of the crisis.
The floods have affected 20 million people and about one-fifth of Pakistan's territory, straining its civilian government as it struggles against al-Qaida and Taliban violence. Aid groups and the United Nations have complained foreign donors have not been quick or generous enough given the scale of the disaster.
The United States has deployed army helicopters to hard hit areas as part of a package worth $90 million.
U.S. Sen. John Kerry, who is visiting Pakistan to see the flood damage, said that would increase to $150 million. The figure is expected to be announced at a U.N. general assembly meeting in New York on Thursday.
Saudi Arabia said it would donate $80 million to Pakistan, the official Saudi Press Agency reported, making it one of the largest donors. The country has for years sought to project its influence in Pakistan and has funded the spread of hardline Islamic theology there.
Pakistan is vital for America's strategic goals of defeating militancy and stabilizing neighboring Afghanistan so its troops can one day withdraw. Washington has already committed to spending $7.5 billion over the next five years in Pakistan.
Recovering from the floods is likely to dominate the agenda of Pakistan's army and government in coming months.
The state has been criticized for failing to respond quickly enough, and Islamist charities — at least one of which has alleged links to terrorism — have been active in the flood-hit areas. There are also concerns the extent of the suffering could stoke social unrest and lead to political instability that may impact Pakistan's fight against the Taliban.
Kerry told reporters "we don't want additional jihadists, extremists coming out of a crisis."
He was speaking after meeting U.S. military personnel taking part in helicopter relief missions.
The floods began in the northwest of the country after exceptionally heavy monsoon rains and have since swamped thousands of towns and villages in Punjab and Sindh provinces. While rainfalls have lessened, flooding is continuing in parts of Sindh province as water from the north courses down the Indus and other rivers.
Local aid groups, the Pakistani army and international aid agencies have helped hundreds of thousands of people with food, shelter, water and medical care, but the distribution has been chaotic and has not come close to reaching everyone.
Officials said that the ancient ruined city and world heritage site Mohenjo Daro in the Larkana district was now at risk. "Our experts are also present at Mohenjo Daro to monitor the flood situation," said government archeologists Qasim Ali.
Mohenjo Daro's structures are mostly made of unbaked brick and are vulnerable to flood damage.
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Thursday, August 19, 2010
Water-borne Disease Epidemic Feared For Pakistan Flood Survivors
Disease is the latest risk for survivors of Pakistan's worst floods in decades.
The United Nations says that water-borne diseases are becoming a grave concern.
There have been 36,000 suspected cases of potentially fatal acute water diarrhea reported so far, and there could be many more cases in the coming weeks.
The U.N. also warns that up to 3.5 million children could be in danger of contracting deadly diseases.
The list of diseases is growing every day - from endemic water diarrhea to endemic cholera and upper respiratory infections.
A doctor running a Sindh province hospital said 80 percent of the patients are children.
[Dr Zulfiqar Sheikh, Medical Superintendent]:
"They are suffering from Gastroenteritis because they don't have clean drinking water. They are suffering from the disease because of contaminated water. Secondly, the flies, the dirt, rotten fruit which they are eating, are the reason. It is spreading and getting epidemic."
Many flood victims have been relegated to living in cramped, un-hygienic conditions.
One mother brought her son to the hospital from a flood-hit area.
[Mother Of Sick Child, Riyad]:
"We have come here from a flood area. The child is vomiting continuously. He has grown weak. We don't know how many days will be required for his recovery."
Estimates put the current flood death toll around 2,000, but this number is expected to rise as people succumb to disease.
After an urgent international appeal, the U.N. says it has secured nearly half of the $459 million needed to fund initial relief efforts.
Russia hopes to boost economic ties with Pakistan: Medvedev
Russia hopes to develop economic cooperation with Pakistan, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari here on Wednesday.
"We would like to continue cooperating in fighting terrorism, drug trafficking and international crimes. That's why everything we discussed earlier could be continued, even though [we have] good political dialogue, it is very important to develop economic ties," the Ria Novosti news agency quoted Medvedev as telling Zardari.
The Russian leader noted that no progress in bilateral economic cooperation has so far been reached.
"The last time we discussed with you this prospect of cooperation. I hope that we will be able to continue discussing this issue now in terms of bilateral economic cooperation and four-party cooperation in a number of projects," Medvedev said.
The Russian and Pakistani leaders held an individual meeting in the southern Russian city on Wednesday on the sidelines of the quadrilateral summit, which also gathers the presidents of Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
The four leaders arrived in Sochi to discuss Afghanistan settlement, the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking as well as regional trade and economic cooperation.
Medvedev also expressed condolences to the Pakistani leader following the deadly floods in the north of the country in which at least 1,600 people have died and some 20 million were affected by the disaster.
The floods, caused by the heavy monsoon rains, were the most severe in 80 years. Thousands of houses were destroyed in the country and entire villages were washed out.
"This is a severe disaster which caused many deaths and unfortunately brought great damage. We mourn with you and are ready to provide assistance to the Pakistani people," Medvedev said.
Earlier, the Afghanistan settlement, the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking became the main topics on the agenda of a quadrilateral summit in Sochi on Wednesday.his is the second meeting of the presidents of Russia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The first quadrilateral summit was held in Tajik capital Dushanbe on July 30, 2009.
Medvedev said Russia is ready to help Kabul in restoring peace in the war-torn country and fighting terrorism.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai invited Medvedev to visit Afghanistan.
"I hope this will happen as quickly as possible and when your busy schedule allows," he told Medvedev, adding that the visit would boost bilateral economic and cultural ties.
"We would like to continue cooperating in fighting terrorism, drug trafficking and international crimes. That's why everything we discussed earlier could be continued, even though [we have] good political dialogue, it is very important to develop economic ties," the Ria Novosti news agency quoted Medvedev as telling Zardari.
The Russian leader noted that no progress in bilateral economic cooperation has so far been reached.
"The last time we discussed with you this prospect of cooperation. I hope that we will be able to continue discussing this issue now in terms of bilateral economic cooperation and four-party cooperation in a number of projects," Medvedev said.
The Russian and Pakistani leaders held an individual meeting in the southern Russian city on Wednesday on the sidelines of the quadrilateral summit, which also gathers the presidents of Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
The four leaders arrived in Sochi to discuss Afghanistan settlement, the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking as well as regional trade and economic cooperation.
Medvedev also expressed condolences to the Pakistani leader following the deadly floods in the north of the country in which at least 1,600 people have died and some 20 million were affected by the disaster.
The floods, caused by the heavy monsoon rains, were the most severe in 80 years. Thousands of houses were destroyed in the country and entire villages were washed out.
"This is a severe disaster which caused many deaths and unfortunately brought great damage. We mourn with you and are ready to provide assistance to the Pakistani people," Medvedev said.
Earlier, the Afghanistan settlement, the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking became the main topics on the agenda of a quadrilateral summit in Sochi on Wednesday.his is the second meeting of the presidents of Russia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The first quadrilateral summit was held in Tajik capital Dushanbe on July 30, 2009.
Medvedev said Russia is ready to help Kabul in restoring peace in the war-torn country and fighting terrorism.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai invited Medvedev to visit Afghanistan.
"I hope this will happen as quickly as possible and when your busy schedule allows," he told Medvedev, adding that the visit would boost bilateral economic and cultural ties.
Aid for Pakistan Lags, U.N. Warns
As monsoon rains continued to fall in Pakistan and water-borne diseases reported spreading, international relief officials said the pace of aid donations was still not sufficient to deal with what might be the nation’s worst disaster.
“The scale of the response is still not commensurate with the scale of the disaster of almost unprecedented magnitude,” said Martin Nesirky, the spokesman for the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, reading a statement from the humanitarian affairs office. “This is a catastrophe that continues to unfold.”
The United Nations, which had been saying that as many as six million people needed some manner of emergency assistance — shelter, food, drinking water or medical care — estimated that figure could reach eight million.
The Asian Development Bank on Thursday said it expected to offer Pakistan a $2 billion emergency loan for help repairing roads, bridges and other infrastructure damaged by the record flooding in the country.
“The recovery will require a huge financial commitment from all development partners,” the bank said on its Web site.
Citing the loss of life, livestock, homes and the damages to the country’s power and transportation grids, the bank said it was continuing to evaluate the toll of the flooding. The ADB’s announcement preceded a scheduled news conference later Thursday by the U.N. and Pakistan to give the latest assessment of the flooding.
Since the weekend the pace of pledges to the United Nations’ $460 million appeal has accelerated, Mr. Nesirky said on Wednesday, but it remains short of its target.
“The funding response to the floods is improving, but much more is needed,” he said. “The effort must be sustained in the days and weeks ahead in order to have the resources to reach the people who desperately need help.”
Shortages of the most basic supplies have presented the biggest challenge for aid workers in Pakistan, along with the logistics of how to deliver them across a vast part of the country lacking infrastructure.
The World Health Organization said Wednesday that of the more than 15 million people the floods are estimated to have affected, only about 1.2 million had access to safe water supplies. In the most inundated areas, 200 of 1,167 health facilities — including several hospitals — were damaged. Reports of respiratory tract infections and fatal diarrhea were growing.
The United Nations began an appeal on Aug. 11 for $460 million to provide immediate aid to flood victims. By Wednesday, nations, organizations and individuals had sent $231 million, and had pledged an additional $40 million.
The United States was by far the largest single donor, with $82 million, according to United Nations figures, with Australia the next largest donor at $26.6 million. The United States said its total contributions amounted to $90 million, including helicopters, boats and temporary bridges, according to the State Department.
Not all the aid was flowing through the United Nations. Britain, for example, has sent more than $40 million, and the European Union said it would double its aid to more than $90 million.
Although the disaster has fallen in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when charity is considered a duty, Muslim states have donated virtually nothing via the United Nations and relatively small sums on their own. Turkey was the largest such donor, with more than $11 million, and Kuwait donated $5 million, United Nations figures show. Saudi Arabia has pledged more than $80 million, but United Nations records indicate none of it has been delivered.
To illustrate the size of the need, Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman for the United Nations relief effort in Pakistan, said aid agencies had received 935,000 tents, but more than double that number were needed.
The United Nations and the aid agencies through which it works have thus far delivered food to nearly 800,000 people, have helped get clean water to at least 1.4 million and have provided shelter to nearly one million. Medical stocks covering the potential health needs of 1.8 million people have also been provided.
“Unfortunately, this is only a fraction of what we need to do,” said Martin Mogwanja, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Pakistan.
The floods are not over.
“The Indus River is at 40 times its normal volume,” said Karen Allen, a Unicef official in Islamabad, the capital, in a statement from the humanitarian coordinator. “Whole cities, of up to 250,000 people, have been evacuated, and people have lost everything.” Official estimates put the number of destroyed houses at one million.
“The scale of the response is still not commensurate with the scale of the disaster of almost unprecedented magnitude,” said Martin Nesirky, the spokesman for the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, reading a statement from the humanitarian affairs office. “This is a catastrophe that continues to unfold.”
The United Nations, which had been saying that as many as six million people needed some manner of emergency assistance — shelter, food, drinking water or medical care — estimated that figure could reach eight million.
The Asian Development Bank on Thursday said it expected to offer Pakistan a $2 billion emergency loan for help repairing roads, bridges and other infrastructure damaged by the record flooding in the country.
“The recovery will require a huge financial commitment from all development partners,” the bank said on its Web site.
Citing the loss of life, livestock, homes and the damages to the country’s power and transportation grids, the bank said it was continuing to evaluate the toll of the flooding. The ADB’s announcement preceded a scheduled news conference later Thursday by the U.N. and Pakistan to give the latest assessment of the flooding.
Since the weekend the pace of pledges to the United Nations’ $460 million appeal has accelerated, Mr. Nesirky said on Wednesday, but it remains short of its target.
“The funding response to the floods is improving, but much more is needed,” he said. “The effort must be sustained in the days and weeks ahead in order to have the resources to reach the people who desperately need help.”
Shortages of the most basic supplies have presented the biggest challenge for aid workers in Pakistan, along with the logistics of how to deliver them across a vast part of the country lacking infrastructure.
The World Health Organization said Wednesday that of the more than 15 million people the floods are estimated to have affected, only about 1.2 million had access to safe water supplies. In the most inundated areas, 200 of 1,167 health facilities — including several hospitals — were damaged. Reports of respiratory tract infections and fatal diarrhea were growing.
The United Nations began an appeal on Aug. 11 for $460 million to provide immediate aid to flood victims. By Wednesday, nations, organizations and individuals had sent $231 million, and had pledged an additional $40 million.
The United States was by far the largest single donor, with $82 million, according to United Nations figures, with Australia the next largest donor at $26.6 million. The United States said its total contributions amounted to $90 million, including helicopters, boats and temporary bridges, according to the State Department.
Not all the aid was flowing through the United Nations. Britain, for example, has sent more than $40 million, and the European Union said it would double its aid to more than $90 million.
Although the disaster has fallen in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when charity is considered a duty, Muslim states have donated virtually nothing via the United Nations and relatively small sums on their own. Turkey was the largest such donor, with more than $11 million, and Kuwait donated $5 million, United Nations figures show. Saudi Arabia has pledged more than $80 million, but United Nations records indicate none of it has been delivered.
To illustrate the size of the need, Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman for the United Nations relief effort in Pakistan, said aid agencies had received 935,000 tents, but more than double that number were needed.
The United Nations and the aid agencies through which it works have thus far delivered food to nearly 800,000 people, have helped get clean water to at least 1.4 million and have provided shelter to nearly one million. Medical stocks covering the potential health needs of 1.8 million people have also been provided.
“Unfortunately, this is only a fraction of what we need to do,” said Martin Mogwanja, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Pakistan.
The floods are not over.
“The Indus River is at 40 times its normal volume,” said Karen Allen, a Unicef official in Islamabad, the capital, in a statement from the humanitarian coordinator. “Whole cities, of up to 250,000 people, have been evacuated, and people have lost everything.” Official estimates put the number of destroyed houses at one million.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Pakistan: An Urgent Call for Aid
Editorial:New York Times
The magnitude of Pakistan’s current tragedy is almost more than the mind can take in. A fifth of the country flooded by torrential monsoon rains. Fifteen million to 20 million people driven from their homes or otherwise affected. Six million in need of emergency assistance, such as food and clean water. Millions of acres of the country’s best cropland underwater. Livestock drowned. Medical clinics destroyed. Cholera threatening the survivors.
This is a disaster on many levels. It is a tragedy for millions of people. It also is a strategic threat — to the stability of Pakistan’s nuclear-armed government and to American efforts to suppress Al Qaeda and other extremists wreaking havoc on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. These groups are eager to use the crisis to sow more resentment toward Islamabad and Washington and win new adherents for their nihilistic cause.
The world, especially the United States, must not blow this one. We worry it already could be doing that.
The United Nations has called for $460 million in donations for immediate relief. So far, less than half of that has been committed. The United Nations says that the money is urgently needed to supply food, clean water, tents or shelter materials, basic household goods, emergency health care and livestock feed. More delay means even more devastation.
Washington is doing better than other donors, providing badly needed helicopters for rescue and supply missions, prefabricated bridges and more than $70 million in relief and resettlement funds. It should be rallying other countries, as well as private organizations and individuals, to do their fair share. But surely this country, as the richest donor with the greatest strategic interest in Pakistan, could do a lot more right now.
The world has been slow to grasp the enormity of this crisis, perhaps because it unfolded slowly, not in a sudden jolt like an earthquake or tsunami. Or, perhaps, the floods were overshadowed by the out-of-control fires in Russia or were neglected because many donors were already fatigued from the challenge of rebuilding Haiti.
The relatively low death toll (about 1,500), the summer vacation doldrums and negative views of Pakistan as corrupt and war-ridden also may have dampened enthusiasm for helping.
The devastation in Pakistan is likely to worsen as the monsoon rains continue. But even an end to the rains won’t end the emergency. Plans need to be made right now to ensure that next year’s crops are planted. Looming ahead is the enormous challenge of rebuilding Pakistan’s shattered bridges, roads, structures and agricultural and economic base. For now, the humanitarian needs are paramount.
In some areas, radical Islamic charities have provided shelter and hot meals well before the beleaguered authorities could bring in supplies. This is a battle for hearts and minds. It is one that Pakistan’s government, and the United States, must not lose.
The magnitude of Pakistan’s current tragedy is almost more than the mind can take in. A fifth of the country flooded by torrential monsoon rains. Fifteen million to 20 million people driven from their homes or otherwise affected. Six million in need of emergency assistance, such as food and clean water. Millions of acres of the country’s best cropland underwater. Livestock drowned. Medical clinics destroyed. Cholera threatening the survivors.
This is a disaster on many levels. It is a tragedy for millions of people. It also is a strategic threat — to the stability of Pakistan’s nuclear-armed government and to American efforts to suppress Al Qaeda and other extremists wreaking havoc on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. These groups are eager to use the crisis to sow more resentment toward Islamabad and Washington and win new adherents for their nihilistic cause.
The world, especially the United States, must not blow this one. We worry it already could be doing that.
The United Nations has called for $460 million in donations for immediate relief. So far, less than half of that has been committed. The United Nations says that the money is urgently needed to supply food, clean water, tents or shelter materials, basic household goods, emergency health care and livestock feed. More delay means even more devastation.
Washington is doing better than other donors, providing badly needed helicopters for rescue and supply missions, prefabricated bridges and more than $70 million in relief and resettlement funds. It should be rallying other countries, as well as private organizations and individuals, to do their fair share. But surely this country, as the richest donor with the greatest strategic interest in Pakistan, could do a lot more right now.
The world has been slow to grasp the enormity of this crisis, perhaps because it unfolded slowly, not in a sudden jolt like an earthquake or tsunami. Or, perhaps, the floods were overshadowed by the out-of-control fires in Russia or were neglected because many donors were already fatigued from the challenge of rebuilding Haiti.
The relatively low death toll (about 1,500), the summer vacation doldrums and negative views of Pakistan as corrupt and war-ridden also may have dampened enthusiasm for helping.
The devastation in Pakistan is likely to worsen as the monsoon rains continue. But even an end to the rains won’t end the emergency. Plans need to be made right now to ensure that next year’s crops are planted. Looming ahead is the enormous challenge of rebuilding Pakistan’s shattered bridges, roads, structures and agricultural and economic base. For now, the humanitarian needs are paramount.
In some areas, radical Islamic charities have provided shelter and hot meals well before the beleaguered authorities could bring in supplies. This is a battle for hearts and minds. It is one that Pakistan’s government, and the United States, must not lose.
Russian President talks with Afghan, Pakistani leaders
MOSCOW — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is hosting the presidents of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan for talks on efforts to stabilize the region.
Russia has offered to help Pakistan deal with the catastrophic floods that have affected some 20 million people — or one in nine Pakistanis. The four presidents are expected to issue a statement after their Wednesday's talks urging a stronger international support for the flood victims.
The talks at Medvedev's residence at the Black Sea resort of Sochi will also focus on dealing with terrorism and drugs spreading from Afghanistan.
Medvedev has previously held similar talks, moving to reaffirm Russia's clout in the volatile region. He will also have bilateral meetings with each of the visiting presidents.
Russia has offered to help Pakistan deal with the catastrophic floods that have affected some 20 million people — or one in nine Pakistanis. The four presidents are expected to issue a statement after their Wednesday's talks urging a stronger international support for the flood victims.
The talks at Medvedev's residence at the Black Sea resort of Sochi will also focus on dealing with terrorism and drugs spreading from Afghanistan.
Medvedev has previously held similar talks, moving to reaffirm Russia's clout in the volatile region. He will also have bilateral meetings with each of the visiting presidents.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Petraeus Opposes a Rapid Pullout in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan — Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander of American and NATO forces, began a campaign on Sunday to convince an increasingly skeptical public that the American-led coalition can still succeed here despite months of setbacks, saying he had not come to Afghanistan to preside over a “graceful exit.”
In an hourlong interview with The New York Times, the general argued against any precipitous withdrawal of forces in July 2011, the date set by President Obama to begin at least a gradual reduction of the 100,000 troops on the ground. General Petraeus said that it was only in the last few weeks that the war plan had been fine-tuned and given the resources that it required. “For the first time,” he said, “we will have what we have been working to put in place for the last year and a half.”
In another in a series of interviews, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” General Petraeus even appeared to leave open the possibility that he would recommend against any withdrawal of American forces next summer.
“Certainly, yes,” he said when the show’s host, David Gregory, asked him if, depending on how the war was proceeding, he might tell the president that a drawdown should be delayed. “The president and I sat down in the Oval Office, and he expressed very clearly that what he wants from me is my best professional military advice.”
The statement offered a preview of what promised to be an intense political battle over the future of the American-led war in Afghanistan, which has deteriorated on the ground and turned unpopular at home. Already, some Democrats in Congress are pushing for steep withdrawals early on, while supporters of the war say that a rapid draw-down could endanger the Afghan mission altogether.
General Petraeus, in his interview with The Times, said American and NATO troops were making progress on a number of fronts, including routing Taliban insurgents from their sanctuaries, reforming the Afghan government and preparing Afghan soldiers to fight on their own.
General Petraeus, who took over last month after Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal was fired for making disparaging remarks about civilian leaders, said he believed that he would be given the time and matériel necessary to prevail here. He expressed that confidence despite the fact that nearly every phase of the war is going badly — and even though some inside the Obama administration have turned against it.
“The president didn’t send me over here to seek a graceful exit,” General Petraeus said at his office at NATO headquarters in downtown Kabul. “My marching orders are to do all that is humanly possible to help us achieve our objectives.”
General Petraeus’s public remarks, his first since taking over, highlight the extraordinary challenges, both military and political, that loom in the coming months. American soldiers and Marines are dying at a faster rate than at any time since 2001. The Afghan in whom the United States has placed its hopes, President Hamid Karzai, has demonstrated little resolve in rooting out the corruption that pervades his government.
And perhaps most important, the general will be trying to demonstrate progress in the 11 months until Mr. Obama’s deadline to begin withdrawing troops.
The date was chosen in part to win over critics of the war and to push the Afghan government to reform more quickly. But as critical battles to reclaim parts of the Taliban heartland have faltered, military commanders have begun preparing to ask the White House to keep any withdrawals next year to a minimum.
In the interview with The Times, General Petraeus also suggested that he would resist any large-scale or rapid withdrawal of American forces. If the Taliban believes that will happen, he said, they are mistaken.
“Clearly the enemy is fighting back, sees this as a very pivotal moment, believes that all he has to do is outlast us through this fighting season,” the general said. “That is just not the case.”
The public campaign begun Sunday echoes the similarly high-profile efforts the general undertook at the bloodiest phase of the war in Iraq. In early 2007, joining a group of defense intellectuals and retired generals, General Petraeus asserted that the anarchic situation in Iraq could be stabilized with an infusion of tens of thousands additional American troops.
Then-President George W. Bush endorsed the effort and chose General Petraeus to lead it. And, to the surprise of many, the campaign, known as “the surge,” helped bring about a dramatic drop in violence that has largely held. During the surge, General Petraeus sometimes skirted the traditional lines separating the military and political worlds, testifying before Congress and speaking almost weekly to Mr. Bush.
General Petraeus has taken a lower public profile since Mr. Obama’s inauguration. His efforts on Sunday — which will continue with more interviews in the coming days — represent his first attempt to convince the American people that his efforts and those of the American soldiers and Marines deployed here can succeed.
The general’s latest outreach campaign, which included an interview with The Washington Post, highlighted his political strengths as much as his military ones. He was careful, patient and disciplined — sticking to his main points — traits that have won him widespread respect.
Among other things, the general is fighting to preserve his own legacy, based on the dramatic turnaround he helped orchestrate during the war in Iraq. The hallmark of that strategy was its focus on protecting civilians, even at the expense of letting insurgents walk away.
In Afghanistan, that approach is coming under growing criticism, mainly from people who regard it as too expensive and open ended. Some in the Obama administration have been advocating a move from counterinsurgency toward a strategy focused on hunting and killing insurgents.
General Petraeus has imported some hands from his Iraq days to help him. Brig. Gen. H. R. McMaster, one of the most innovative officers in the Iraq war, has taken charge of a task force assigned to attack corruption. Frederick W. Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute — one of the fathers of the surge and more recently a critic of the Afghan government — has come to help as well.
The drafting of those experts suggests that General Petraeus intends to take a harder line against corruption in the Karzai government, which ranks among the biggest factors driving Afghans to the Taliban.
Mr. Karzai has promised over the years to root out corruption but has largely failed to do so. He has refused requests from American officials to remove his brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, as chairman of the provincial council in Kandahar Province despite widespread reports of corruption. Last week, the president tried to assert control over two American-backed Afghan anticorruption units that are investigating Afghan officials.
General Petraeus declined to discuss the status of Ahmed Wali Karzai, and he praised President Karzai’s efforts to attack corruption. In any case, he suggested, American leverage over Mr. Karzai is limited. “President Karzai is the elected leader of a sovereign country,” he said. “That is how the people see him by and large; he is therefore — and has to be, for sure — our partner.”
In an hourlong interview with The New York Times, the general argued against any precipitous withdrawal of forces in July 2011, the date set by President Obama to begin at least a gradual reduction of the 100,000 troops on the ground. General Petraeus said that it was only in the last few weeks that the war plan had been fine-tuned and given the resources that it required. “For the first time,” he said, “we will have what we have been working to put in place for the last year and a half.”
In another in a series of interviews, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” General Petraeus even appeared to leave open the possibility that he would recommend against any withdrawal of American forces next summer.
“Certainly, yes,” he said when the show’s host, David Gregory, asked him if, depending on how the war was proceeding, he might tell the president that a drawdown should be delayed. “The president and I sat down in the Oval Office, and he expressed very clearly that what he wants from me is my best professional military advice.”
The statement offered a preview of what promised to be an intense political battle over the future of the American-led war in Afghanistan, which has deteriorated on the ground and turned unpopular at home. Already, some Democrats in Congress are pushing for steep withdrawals early on, while supporters of the war say that a rapid draw-down could endanger the Afghan mission altogether.
General Petraeus, in his interview with The Times, said American and NATO troops were making progress on a number of fronts, including routing Taliban insurgents from their sanctuaries, reforming the Afghan government and preparing Afghan soldiers to fight on their own.
General Petraeus, who took over last month after Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal was fired for making disparaging remarks about civilian leaders, said he believed that he would be given the time and matériel necessary to prevail here. He expressed that confidence despite the fact that nearly every phase of the war is going badly — and even though some inside the Obama administration have turned against it.
“The president didn’t send me over here to seek a graceful exit,” General Petraeus said at his office at NATO headquarters in downtown Kabul. “My marching orders are to do all that is humanly possible to help us achieve our objectives.”
General Petraeus’s public remarks, his first since taking over, highlight the extraordinary challenges, both military and political, that loom in the coming months. American soldiers and Marines are dying at a faster rate than at any time since 2001. The Afghan in whom the United States has placed its hopes, President Hamid Karzai, has demonstrated little resolve in rooting out the corruption that pervades his government.
And perhaps most important, the general will be trying to demonstrate progress in the 11 months until Mr. Obama’s deadline to begin withdrawing troops.
The date was chosen in part to win over critics of the war and to push the Afghan government to reform more quickly. But as critical battles to reclaim parts of the Taliban heartland have faltered, military commanders have begun preparing to ask the White House to keep any withdrawals next year to a minimum.
In the interview with The Times, General Petraeus also suggested that he would resist any large-scale or rapid withdrawal of American forces. If the Taliban believes that will happen, he said, they are mistaken.
“Clearly the enemy is fighting back, sees this as a very pivotal moment, believes that all he has to do is outlast us through this fighting season,” the general said. “That is just not the case.”
The public campaign begun Sunday echoes the similarly high-profile efforts the general undertook at the bloodiest phase of the war in Iraq. In early 2007, joining a group of defense intellectuals and retired generals, General Petraeus asserted that the anarchic situation in Iraq could be stabilized with an infusion of tens of thousands additional American troops.
Then-President George W. Bush endorsed the effort and chose General Petraeus to lead it. And, to the surprise of many, the campaign, known as “the surge,” helped bring about a dramatic drop in violence that has largely held. During the surge, General Petraeus sometimes skirted the traditional lines separating the military and political worlds, testifying before Congress and speaking almost weekly to Mr. Bush.
General Petraeus has taken a lower public profile since Mr. Obama’s inauguration. His efforts on Sunday — which will continue with more interviews in the coming days — represent his first attempt to convince the American people that his efforts and those of the American soldiers and Marines deployed here can succeed.
The general’s latest outreach campaign, which included an interview with The Washington Post, highlighted his political strengths as much as his military ones. He was careful, patient and disciplined — sticking to his main points — traits that have won him widespread respect.
Among other things, the general is fighting to preserve his own legacy, based on the dramatic turnaround he helped orchestrate during the war in Iraq. The hallmark of that strategy was its focus on protecting civilians, even at the expense of letting insurgents walk away.
In Afghanistan, that approach is coming under growing criticism, mainly from people who regard it as too expensive and open ended. Some in the Obama administration have been advocating a move from counterinsurgency toward a strategy focused on hunting and killing insurgents.
General Petraeus has imported some hands from his Iraq days to help him. Brig. Gen. H. R. McMaster, one of the most innovative officers in the Iraq war, has taken charge of a task force assigned to attack corruption. Frederick W. Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute — one of the fathers of the surge and more recently a critic of the Afghan government — has come to help as well.
The drafting of those experts suggests that General Petraeus intends to take a harder line against corruption in the Karzai government, which ranks among the biggest factors driving Afghans to the Taliban.
Mr. Karzai has promised over the years to root out corruption but has largely failed to do so. He has refused requests from American officials to remove his brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, as chairman of the provincial council in Kandahar Province despite widespread reports of corruption. Last week, the president tried to assert control over two American-backed Afghan anticorruption units that are investigating Afghan officials.
General Petraeus declined to discuss the status of Ahmed Wali Karzai, and he praised President Karzai’s efforts to attack corruption. In any case, he suggested, American leverage over Mr. Karzai is limited. “President Karzai is the elected leader of a sovereign country,” he said. “That is how the people see him by and large; he is therefore — and has to be, for sure — our partner.”
Petraeus Opposes a Rapid Pullout in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan — Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander of American and NATO forces, began a campaign on Sunday to convince an increasingly skeptical public that the American-led coalition can still succeed here despite months of setbacks, saying he had not come to Afghanistan to preside over a “graceful exit.”
In an hourlong interview with The New York Times, the general argued against any precipitous withdrawal of forces in July 2011, the date set by President Obama to begin at least a gradual reduction of the 100,000 troops on the ground. General Petraeus said that it was only in the last few weeks that the war plan had been fine-tuned and given the resources that it required. “For the first time,” he said, “we will have what we have been working to put in place for the last year and a half.”
In another in a series of interviews, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” General Petraeus even appeared to leave open the possibility that he would recommend against any withdrawal of American forces next summer.
“Certainly, yes,” he said when the show’s host, David Gregory, asked him if, depending on how the war was proceeding, he might tell the president that a drawdown should be delayed. “The president and I sat down in the Oval Office, and he expressed very clearly that what he wants from me is my best professional military advice.”
The statement offered a preview of what promised to be an intense political battle over the future of the American-led war in Afghanistan, which has deteriorated on the ground and turned unpopular at home. Already, some Democrats in Congress are pushing for steep withdrawals early on, while supporters of the war say that a rapid draw-down could endanger the Afghan mission altogether.
General Petraeus, in his interview with The Times, said American and NATO troops were making progress on a number of fronts, including routing Taliban insurgents from their sanctuaries, reforming the Afghan government and preparing Afghan soldiers to fight on their own.
General Petraeus, who took over last month after Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal was fired for making disparaging remarks about civilian leaders, said he believed that he would be given the time and matériel necessary to prevail here. He expressed that confidence despite the fact that nearly every phase of the war is going badly — and even though some inside the Obama administration have turned against it.
“The president didn’t send me over here to seek a graceful exit,” General Petraeus said at his office at NATO headquarters in downtown Kabul. “My marching orders are to do all that is humanly possible to help us achieve our objectives.”
General Petraeus’s public remarks, his first since taking over, highlight the extraordinary challenges, both military and political, that loom in the coming months. American soldiers and Marines are dying at a faster rate than at any time since 2001. The Afghan in whom the United States has placed its hopes, President Hamid Karzai, has demonstrated little resolve in rooting out the corruption that pervades his government.
And perhaps most important, the general will be trying to demonstrate progress in the 11 months until Mr. Obama’s deadline to begin withdrawing troops.
The date was chosen in part to win over critics of the war and to push the Afghan government to reform more quickly. But as critical battles to reclaim parts of the Taliban heartland have faltered, military commanders have begun preparing to ask the White House to keep any withdrawals next year to a minimum.
In the interview with The Times, General Petraeus also suggested that he would resist any large-scale or rapid withdrawal of American forces. If the Taliban believes that will happen, he said, they are mistaken.
“Clearly the enemy is fighting back, sees this as a very pivotal moment, believes that all he has to do is outlast us through this fighting season,” the general said. “That is just not the case.”
The public campaign begun Sunday echoes the similarly high-profile efforts the general undertook at the bloodiest phase of the war in Iraq. In early 2007, joining a group of defense intellectuals and retired generals, General Petraeus asserted that the anarchic situation in Iraq could be stabilized with an infusion of tens of thousands additional American troops.
Then-President George W. Bush endorsed the effort and chose General Petraeus to lead it. And, to the surprise of many, the campaign, known as “the surge,” helped bring about a dramatic drop in violence that has largely held. During the surge, General Petraeus sometimes skirted the traditional lines separating the military and political worlds, testifying before Congress and speaking almost weekly to Mr. Bush.
General Petraeus has taken a lower public profile since Mr. Obama’s inauguration. His efforts on Sunday — which will continue with more interviews in the coming days — represent his first attempt to convince the American people that his efforts and those of the American soldiers and Marines deployed here can succeed.
The general’s latest outreach campaign, which included an interview with The Washington Post, highlighted his political strengths as much as his military ones. He was careful, patient and disciplined — sticking to his main points — traits that have won him widespread respect.
Among other things, the general is fighting to preserve his own legacy, based on the dramatic turnaround he helped orchestrate during the war in Iraq. The hallmark of that strategy was its focus on protecting civilians, even at the expense of letting insurgents walk away.
In Afghanistan, that approach is coming under growing criticism, mainly from people who regard it as too expensive and open ended. Some in the Obama administration have been advocating a move from counterinsurgency toward a strategy focused on hunting and killing insurgents.
General Petraeus has imported some hands from his Iraq days to help him. Brig. Gen. H. R. McMaster, one of the most innovative officers in the Iraq war, has taken charge of a task force assigned to attack corruption. Frederick W. Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute — one of the fathers of the surge and more recently a critic of the Afghan government — has come to help as well.
The drafting of those experts suggests that General Petraeus intends to take a harder line against corruption in the Karzai government, which ranks among the biggest factors driving Afghans to the Taliban.
Mr. Karzai has promised over the years to root out corruption but has largely failed to do so. He has refused requests from American officials to remove his brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, as chairman of the provincial council in Kandahar Province despite widespread reports of corruption. Last week, the president tried to assert control over two American-backed Afghan anticorruption units that are investigating Afghan officials.
General Petraeus declined to discuss the status of Ahmed Wali Karzai, and he praised President Karzai’s efforts to attack corruption. In any case, he suggested, American leverage over Mr. Karzai is limited. “President Karzai is the elected leader of a sovereign country,” he said. “That is how the people see him by and large; he is therefore — and has to be, for sure — our partner.”
In an hourlong interview with The New York Times, the general argued against any precipitous withdrawal of forces in July 2011, the date set by President Obama to begin at least a gradual reduction of the 100,000 troops on the ground. General Petraeus said that it was only in the last few weeks that the war plan had been fine-tuned and given the resources that it required. “For the first time,” he said, “we will have what we have been working to put in place for the last year and a half.”
In another in a series of interviews, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” General Petraeus even appeared to leave open the possibility that he would recommend against any withdrawal of American forces next summer.
“Certainly, yes,” he said when the show’s host, David Gregory, asked him if, depending on how the war was proceeding, he might tell the president that a drawdown should be delayed. “The president and I sat down in the Oval Office, and he expressed very clearly that what he wants from me is my best professional military advice.”
The statement offered a preview of what promised to be an intense political battle over the future of the American-led war in Afghanistan, which has deteriorated on the ground and turned unpopular at home. Already, some Democrats in Congress are pushing for steep withdrawals early on, while supporters of the war say that a rapid draw-down could endanger the Afghan mission altogether.
General Petraeus, in his interview with The Times, said American and NATO troops were making progress on a number of fronts, including routing Taliban insurgents from their sanctuaries, reforming the Afghan government and preparing Afghan soldiers to fight on their own.
General Petraeus, who took over last month after Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal was fired for making disparaging remarks about civilian leaders, said he believed that he would be given the time and matériel necessary to prevail here. He expressed that confidence despite the fact that nearly every phase of the war is going badly — and even though some inside the Obama administration have turned against it.
“The president didn’t send me over here to seek a graceful exit,” General Petraeus said at his office at NATO headquarters in downtown Kabul. “My marching orders are to do all that is humanly possible to help us achieve our objectives.”
General Petraeus’s public remarks, his first since taking over, highlight the extraordinary challenges, both military and political, that loom in the coming months. American soldiers and Marines are dying at a faster rate than at any time since 2001. The Afghan in whom the United States has placed its hopes, President Hamid Karzai, has demonstrated little resolve in rooting out the corruption that pervades his government.
And perhaps most important, the general will be trying to demonstrate progress in the 11 months until Mr. Obama’s deadline to begin withdrawing troops.
The date was chosen in part to win over critics of the war and to push the Afghan government to reform more quickly. But as critical battles to reclaim parts of the Taliban heartland have faltered, military commanders have begun preparing to ask the White House to keep any withdrawals next year to a minimum.
In the interview with The Times, General Petraeus also suggested that he would resist any large-scale or rapid withdrawal of American forces. If the Taliban believes that will happen, he said, they are mistaken.
“Clearly the enemy is fighting back, sees this as a very pivotal moment, believes that all he has to do is outlast us through this fighting season,” the general said. “That is just not the case.”
The public campaign begun Sunday echoes the similarly high-profile efforts the general undertook at the bloodiest phase of the war in Iraq. In early 2007, joining a group of defense intellectuals and retired generals, General Petraeus asserted that the anarchic situation in Iraq could be stabilized with an infusion of tens of thousands additional American troops.
Then-President George W. Bush endorsed the effort and chose General Petraeus to lead it. And, to the surprise of many, the campaign, known as “the surge,” helped bring about a dramatic drop in violence that has largely held. During the surge, General Petraeus sometimes skirted the traditional lines separating the military and political worlds, testifying before Congress and speaking almost weekly to Mr. Bush.
General Petraeus has taken a lower public profile since Mr. Obama’s inauguration. His efforts on Sunday — which will continue with more interviews in the coming days — represent his first attempt to convince the American people that his efforts and those of the American soldiers and Marines deployed here can succeed.
The general’s latest outreach campaign, which included an interview with The Washington Post, highlighted his political strengths as much as his military ones. He was careful, patient and disciplined — sticking to his main points — traits that have won him widespread respect.
Among other things, the general is fighting to preserve his own legacy, based on the dramatic turnaround he helped orchestrate during the war in Iraq. The hallmark of that strategy was its focus on protecting civilians, even at the expense of letting insurgents walk away.
In Afghanistan, that approach is coming under growing criticism, mainly from people who regard it as too expensive and open ended. Some in the Obama administration have been advocating a move from counterinsurgency toward a strategy focused on hunting and killing insurgents.
General Petraeus has imported some hands from his Iraq days to help him. Brig. Gen. H. R. McMaster, one of the most innovative officers in the Iraq war, has taken charge of a task force assigned to attack corruption. Frederick W. Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute — one of the fathers of the surge and more recently a critic of the Afghan government — has come to help as well.
The drafting of those experts suggests that General Petraeus intends to take a harder line against corruption in the Karzai government, which ranks among the biggest factors driving Afghans to the Taliban.
Mr. Karzai has promised over the years to root out corruption but has largely failed to do so. He has refused requests from American officials to remove his brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, as chairman of the provincial council in Kandahar Province despite widespread reports of corruption. Last week, the president tried to assert control over two American-backed Afghan anticorruption units that are investigating Afghan officials.
General Petraeus declined to discuss the status of Ahmed Wali Karzai, and he praised President Karzai’s efforts to attack corruption. In any case, he suggested, American leverage over Mr. Karzai is limited. “President Karzai is the elected leader of a sovereign country,” he said. “That is how the people see him by and large; he is therefore — and has to be, for sure — our partner.”
UN's Ban Ki-Moon Says Pakistan Floods Are Worst Disaster He's Ever Seen
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said devastation caused by unprecedented flooding in Pakistan was among the worst he had ever seen, as he promised more relief funds for those who have lost homes and farms.
“This has been a heart-wrenching day for me,” Ban said yesterday at a press conference with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. “I will never forget the destruction and suffering I have witnessed today. In the past, I have witnessed many natural disasters around the world, but nothing like this.”
Speaking during a visit to the country, Ban said the UN was allocating a further $10 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund, making $27 million allocated since the crisis began. He said the organization would aim to provide help for 14 million people affected by the floods and deliver clean water to 6 million people.
The government canceled the Aug. 14 Independence Day celebrations to show solidarity with flood victims, state-run Associated Press of Pakistan said. Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani hosted a meeting of political leaders in the capital, Islamabad, that agreed to set up a national fund to rehabilitate people affected by the disaster. As many as 20 million people have been displaced, Gilani said.
“This disaster is far from over,” Ban told reporters yesterday. “The rains are still falling and could continue for weeks. The United Nations and international community and international humanitarian community are moving as fast as we can to help the government deliver desperately needed humanitarian assistance.”
“This has been a heart-wrenching day for me,” Ban said yesterday at a press conference with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. “I will never forget the destruction and suffering I have witnessed today. In the past, I have witnessed many natural disasters around the world, but nothing like this.”
Speaking during a visit to the country, Ban said the UN was allocating a further $10 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund, making $27 million allocated since the crisis began. He said the organization would aim to provide help for 14 million people affected by the floods and deliver clean water to 6 million people.
The government canceled the Aug. 14 Independence Day celebrations to show solidarity with flood victims, state-run Associated Press of Pakistan said. Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani hosted a meeting of political leaders in the capital, Islamabad, that agreed to set up a national fund to rehabilitate people affected by the disaster. As many as 20 million people have been displaced, Gilani said.
“This disaster is far from over,” Ban told reporters yesterday. “The rains are still falling and could continue for weeks. The United Nations and international community and international humanitarian community are moving as fast as we can to help the government deliver desperately needed humanitarian assistance.”
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Afghanistan says finds 1.8 billion barrel oilfield
Afghanistan said on Sunday it had discovered an oilfield with an estimated 1.8 billion barrels in the north of the war-ravaged country, where U.S. and other foreign forces are trying to tame a Taliban-led insurgency.
The discovery of the basin between northern Balkh and Shiberghan provinces was made after a survey conducted by Afghan and international geologists, said Jawad Omar, a spokesman for the ministry of mines.
"I do not know its price in the market. But the initial survey says there are 1.8 billion barrels of oil and I think there will be more than what it is estimated," he told Reuters.
Various estimates of Afghanistan's hidden wealth have been made in recent years, but the challenge of exploiting the resources in a country at war and with little mining infrastructure is daunting for most investors.
Omar gave no more details on how the estimates were made but said the country will offer the reserves for development along with other minerals in the coming months.
Afghanistan hopes that untapped mineral deposits valued at $3 trillion could help reduce the need to rely on Western cash for bankrolling its impoverished economy and for its soldiers to maintain security when foreign troops draw down numbers.
But ravaged by three decades of foreign interventions and civil war, the central government now faces the Taliban insurgency and relies on foreign forces for control of many parts of the vast Central Asian country.
The U.S. Department of Defense estimated earlier this year that Afghanistan's mineral resources could top $1 trillion, but experts say the fragile security situation could delay seeing the benefits of this wealth for years.
Omar said an earlier plan for the tender of a 1.6 billion barrel Afghan-Tajik oil block in early 2011 was still on track.
He said Afghanistan will retender by year-end a deposit of iron of 1.8 billion tonnes it had scrapped earlier this year due to the global recession and changes in the world markets.
The untapped mineral resources include iron ore, copper, lithium, oil gas and gems which Afghanistan hopes to put for developing in coming years despite rising insecurity in recent years, the bloodiest period since U.S.-led troops ousted the Taliban in 2001.
China's top integrated copper producer, Jiangxi Copper Co and China Metallurgical Group Corp, in 2007 became the first major investor in Afghanistan.
They are involved in the exploration of the vast multi-billion dollar Aynak Copper Mine to the south of Kabul. Omar said the actual exploration of the mine will start after three years.
The discovery of the basin between northern Balkh and Shiberghan provinces was made after a survey conducted by Afghan and international geologists, said Jawad Omar, a spokesman for the ministry of mines.
"I do not know its price in the market. But the initial survey says there are 1.8 billion barrels of oil and I think there will be more than what it is estimated," he told Reuters.
Various estimates of Afghanistan's hidden wealth have been made in recent years, but the challenge of exploiting the resources in a country at war and with little mining infrastructure is daunting for most investors.
Omar gave no more details on how the estimates were made but said the country will offer the reserves for development along with other minerals in the coming months.
Afghanistan hopes that untapped mineral deposits valued at $3 trillion could help reduce the need to rely on Western cash for bankrolling its impoverished economy and for its soldiers to maintain security when foreign troops draw down numbers.
But ravaged by three decades of foreign interventions and civil war, the central government now faces the Taliban insurgency and relies on foreign forces for control of many parts of the vast Central Asian country.
The U.S. Department of Defense estimated earlier this year that Afghanistan's mineral resources could top $1 trillion, but experts say the fragile security situation could delay seeing the benefits of this wealth for years.
Omar said an earlier plan for the tender of a 1.6 billion barrel Afghan-Tajik oil block in early 2011 was still on track.
He said Afghanistan will retender by year-end a deposit of iron of 1.8 billion tonnes it had scrapped earlier this year due to the global recession and changes in the world markets.
The untapped mineral resources include iron ore, copper, lithium, oil gas and gems which Afghanistan hopes to put for developing in coming years despite rising insecurity in recent years, the bloodiest period since U.S.-led troops ousted the Taliban in 2001.
China's top integrated copper producer, Jiangxi Copper Co and China Metallurgical Group Corp, in 2007 became the first major investor in Afghanistan.
They are involved in the exploration of the vast multi-billion dollar Aynak Copper Mine to the south of Kabul. Omar said the actual exploration of the mine will start after three years.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon urges help for Pakistan flood
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged the world to speed up aid to Pakistan after devastating floods which the government says have affected 20 million people.
Mr Ban is in Pakistan to visit PM Yusuf Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari, whose handling of the crisis has been widely criticised.
The risk of epidemics in flood-hit areas is now seen as a serious threat.
On Saturday, the UN confirmed at least one case of cholera among the victims. "I'm here also to urge the world community to speed up their assistance to the Pakistani people," Mr Ban told reporters as he arrived.
"We will try to mobilise all necessary assistance and remember that the whole world is behind the people of Pakistan in this time of trial", he said, adding he would report back to the UN General Assembly first thing this week.
Despite the scale of the disaster, Pakistan officials have expressed concern about the international community's response.
On Saturday, Pakistan's UN envoy Zamir Akram told the BBC that the immensity of the devastation was only now being recognised, and that so far there had not been enough help.
The UN on Wednesday launched a $459m (£294m) appeal for emergency Aid, but says billions will be needed in the long term.The US is at the forefront of the relief effort, having donated at least $70m to the country, which is a key regional ally in fighting terrorism.
The US has also sent military helicopters to rescue stranded people and drop off food and water.
Pakistan's government itself has been dogged by accusations that it has been slow to respond to the crisis, and Mr Zardari has been criticised for not cutting short a trip to Europe as the crisis unfolded.
Flood levels are expected to surge even higher along parts of the already dangerously swollen Indus river, with disaster officials saying "major peaks" were expected next week in Punjab and Sindh provinces.
On Saturday, Mr Gilani said 20 million people had been affected by the country's floods, a much higher estimate than the UN's 14 million.
"Unfortunately, the recent unprecedented torrential rains and devastating floods have made more than 20 million people homeless, destroyed standing crops and food... worth billions of dollars, washed away bridges, roads, communication and energy networks," he said.
There were still flood victims to be reached, but the government was leaving no stone unturned, he said.
The UN had previously said the region's worst flooding in 80 years had affected 14 million out of Pakistan's 180 million population and killed 1,600 people.
Afghan attack survivor tells story...
One of the gunmen who killed 10 charitable health workers in northern Afghanistan hitched a ride with the medical team shortly before the murders, the sole survivor of the attack.
"God was good to me," the team's surviving driver, Safiullah, said in an interview punctuated by long pauses and tears for his slain colleagues.
On Aug. 5, the day of the attack, the medical team stopped to give three men a lift — a common courtesy in the rugged, remote area. Soon after, 10 members of the International Assistance Mission — six Americans, three Afghans, one German and a Briton — lay dead.
It was a tragic finale to the team's more than two-week mission covering about 100 miles (160 kilometers) — much of it on foot and horseback — through the Hindu Kush mountains, giving vision and other medical care to impoverished villagers in Nuristan province.
Several times during the interview, 28-year-old Safiullah, clad in jeans and a dark green shirt, stopped to collect himself or wipe away tears that welled up in his eyes. He recounted how the team was rushed by gunmen shouting "Satellite! Satellite!" — a demand to surrender their phones. He explained how the attackers spared his life, then forced him to walk for hours through a forest before releasing him.
Safiullah, seated on gold cushions propped up on red carpeting at his home in Kabul, said the team picked up three pedestrians on their return trip back to Kabul. They climbed atop one of the three four-wheeled drive vehicles. After the team was stopped by a swollen river, two of the men went on their way. The third man "quickly disappeared," Safiullah said in his first media interview since he was released by Afghan authorities this week.
Team leader Dr. Tom Little, an optometrist from Delmar, New York, and another team member waded into the river with long sticks to find a shallow place for the vehicles to safely cross, he said. After successfully crossing, the team stopped to ready themselves for their long trip back through Badakhshan province and onto the Afghan capital.
Then came the attack.
Among the 10 gunmen was the third pedestrian who had a patchy beard, Safiullah said, touching three parts of his own face to describe the only places where the man's facial hair grew.
One gunman shot Little after hitting him in the head with the back of an AK-47 rifle. Another threw a grenade at one of the vehicles, killing two female members of the team who were hiding inside. Then they shot the team's Afghan cook, who had used luggage to barricade himself under the car that was attacked and burned, Safiullah said.
The attackers then murdered the rest of the group — except Safiullah, who raised his arms in the air and recited verses from the Islamic holy book Quran as he begged the gunmen for his life.
Safiullah speculated the gunmen might have shot the team's Afghan cook, who was lying under the vehicle because they thought he might have had a satellite phone. Safiullah said they might have killed a second Afghan, a guard employed at International Assistance Mission since 2007, because he was wearing a head scarf wrapped in a style that made him look like a bodyguard.
After the killings, the gunmen loaded Safiullah with weapons and luggage and took him with them on a seven- or eight-hour walk through a forest.
The attackers took his wedding ring and $50 in cash from his pocket, but Safiullah said the gunmen were not local thieves.
"They had made a plan," Safiullah said. "It was a very organized group. They had leadership. They were well-organized. They were militants."
Safiullah said he believed the commander — a man he described as a "tyrant with a cruel face" — was Pakistani because he yelled "Jaldee! Jaldee!" — a word used in several regional languages that means "hurry up." It is more commonly used in Pakistan and India than Afghanistan.
Safiullah said he believed the rest of the gunmen were from Nuristan province because while they understood Dari and Pashto, the two main languages spoken in Afghanistan, they conversed in Pashaye, a local dialect used only in parts of the northeast corner of the nation where the attack occurred.
He said the gunmen were physically fit. He recalled that one, a tall pale-faced man, wore commando-style garb. Another, he said, was clad in yellow Afghan-style clothing.
"If it's 100 years later and I see them, I'll know them," he said.
Were the attackers linked with the Taliban, which claimed responsibility, or with the Hizb-i-Islami group that operates in the area under the leadership of warlord and former Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar?
"What is different between Hizb-i-Islami and the Taliban?" he asked. "Both are killers."
Asked if planned to go back to work for the mission, Safiullah paused in silence and struggled to answer.
Safiullah's father, Mohammad Rahim, who worked for International Assistance Mission in the past and knew Little for 30 years, said Little was the foundation of the Christian organization. "It will take a while for IAM to stand on its feet," he said.
Safiullah, who lives in a neighborhood where goats mingle with schoolchildren as they head home from class, said he knows he needs work, but confessed he wasn't sleeping at night. He said he asked police investigators not to release videotape of his questioning because he feared for his life.
"Psychologically, I am not well," he said, lowering his eyes.
"My concern is about my life," he said, adding he planned to leave Kabul at least temporarily to try to get over the ordeal. "I'm not feeling safe."
During his trek with the gunmen, the group began walking toward a flashing light, he said. There, they met up with another group that seemed to know the attackers. They asked Safiullah if he was a Muslim, his father's name, how many children he had and why he worked for foreigners.
"I have children and have to feed my family," said Safiullah, who has a wife, three sons and one daughter.
Before they let him go, the gunmen warned Safiullah to never work again for foreigners, the Afghan government or join the Afghan National Army.
One of the gunmen kicked him so hard that he fell down. Even though they told him to leave, Safiullah said he feared they would hunt him down and kill him. Still, he took off running in shoes with worn soles. Safiullah said he was exhausted from the ordeal and had not eaten in two days. He rested by a large rock and then met up with a shepherd. The older man, who let Safiullah briefly ride on a donkey, took him to his house in Naw village.
By then, Afghan authorities were investigating the crime. Police came to the village and took him back to the scene of the killings.
Safiullah said he helped police load the bodies into the two four-wheeled drive vehicles that still could be driven.
Flooding forced the party to spend the night in another village before they could escort the bodies to Kuran Wa Munjan district of Nuristan province where they were flown by helicopter back to Kabul, Safiullah said.
"In the history of my life," he said. "I will never forget this."
The Associated Press
"God was good to me," the team's surviving driver, Safiullah, said in an interview punctuated by long pauses and tears for his slain colleagues.
On Aug. 5, the day of the attack, the medical team stopped to give three men a lift — a common courtesy in the rugged, remote area. Soon after, 10 members of the International Assistance Mission — six Americans, three Afghans, one German and a Briton — lay dead.
It was a tragic finale to the team's more than two-week mission covering about 100 miles (160 kilometers) — much of it on foot and horseback — through the Hindu Kush mountains, giving vision and other medical care to impoverished villagers in Nuristan province.
Several times during the interview, 28-year-old Safiullah, clad in jeans and a dark green shirt, stopped to collect himself or wipe away tears that welled up in his eyes. He recounted how the team was rushed by gunmen shouting "Satellite! Satellite!" — a demand to surrender their phones. He explained how the attackers spared his life, then forced him to walk for hours through a forest before releasing him.
Safiullah, seated on gold cushions propped up on red carpeting at his home in Kabul, said the team picked up three pedestrians on their return trip back to Kabul. They climbed atop one of the three four-wheeled drive vehicles. After the team was stopped by a swollen river, two of the men went on their way. The third man "quickly disappeared," Safiullah said in his first media interview since he was released by Afghan authorities this week.
Team leader Dr. Tom Little, an optometrist from Delmar, New York, and another team member waded into the river with long sticks to find a shallow place for the vehicles to safely cross, he said. After successfully crossing, the team stopped to ready themselves for their long trip back through Badakhshan province and onto the Afghan capital.
Then came the attack.
Among the 10 gunmen was the third pedestrian who had a patchy beard, Safiullah said, touching three parts of his own face to describe the only places where the man's facial hair grew.
One gunman shot Little after hitting him in the head with the back of an AK-47 rifle. Another threw a grenade at one of the vehicles, killing two female members of the team who were hiding inside. Then they shot the team's Afghan cook, who had used luggage to barricade himself under the car that was attacked and burned, Safiullah said.
The attackers then murdered the rest of the group — except Safiullah, who raised his arms in the air and recited verses from the Islamic holy book Quran as he begged the gunmen for his life.
Safiullah speculated the gunmen might have shot the team's Afghan cook, who was lying under the vehicle because they thought he might have had a satellite phone. Safiullah said they might have killed a second Afghan, a guard employed at International Assistance Mission since 2007, because he was wearing a head scarf wrapped in a style that made him look like a bodyguard.
After the killings, the gunmen loaded Safiullah with weapons and luggage and took him with them on a seven- or eight-hour walk through a forest.
The attackers took his wedding ring and $50 in cash from his pocket, but Safiullah said the gunmen were not local thieves.
"They had made a plan," Safiullah said. "It was a very organized group. They had leadership. They were well-organized. They were militants."
Safiullah said he believed the commander — a man he described as a "tyrant with a cruel face" — was Pakistani because he yelled "Jaldee! Jaldee!" — a word used in several regional languages that means "hurry up." It is more commonly used in Pakistan and India than Afghanistan.
Safiullah said he believed the rest of the gunmen were from Nuristan province because while they understood Dari and Pashto, the two main languages spoken in Afghanistan, they conversed in Pashaye, a local dialect used only in parts of the northeast corner of the nation where the attack occurred.
He said the gunmen were physically fit. He recalled that one, a tall pale-faced man, wore commando-style garb. Another, he said, was clad in yellow Afghan-style clothing.
"If it's 100 years later and I see them, I'll know them," he said.
Were the attackers linked with the Taliban, which claimed responsibility, or with the Hizb-i-Islami group that operates in the area under the leadership of warlord and former Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar?
"What is different between Hizb-i-Islami and the Taliban?" he asked. "Both are killers."
Asked if planned to go back to work for the mission, Safiullah paused in silence and struggled to answer.
Safiullah's father, Mohammad Rahim, who worked for International Assistance Mission in the past and knew Little for 30 years, said Little was the foundation of the Christian organization. "It will take a while for IAM to stand on its feet," he said.
Safiullah, who lives in a neighborhood where goats mingle with schoolchildren as they head home from class, said he knows he needs work, but confessed he wasn't sleeping at night. He said he asked police investigators not to release videotape of his questioning because he feared for his life.
"Psychologically, I am not well," he said, lowering his eyes.
"My concern is about my life," he said, adding he planned to leave Kabul at least temporarily to try to get over the ordeal. "I'm not feeling safe."
During his trek with the gunmen, the group began walking toward a flashing light, he said. There, they met up with another group that seemed to know the attackers. They asked Safiullah if he was a Muslim, his father's name, how many children he had and why he worked for foreigners.
"I have children and have to feed my family," said Safiullah, who has a wife, three sons and one daughter.
Before they let him go, the gunmen warned Safiullah to never work again for foreigners, the Afghan government or join the Afghan National Army.
One of the gunmen kicked him so hard that he fell down. Even though they told him to leave, Safiullah said he feared they would hunt him down and kill him. Still, he took off running in shoes with worn soles. Safiullah said he was exhausted from the ordeal and had not eaten in two days. He rested by a large rock and then met up with a shepherd. The older man, who let Safiullah briefly ride on a donkey, took him to his house in Naw village.
By then, Afghan authorities were investigating the crime. Police came to the village and took him back to the scene of the killings.
Safiullah said he helped police load the bodies into the two four-wheeled drive vehicles that still could be driven.
Flooding forced the party to spend the night in another village before they could escort the bodies to Kuran Wa Munjan district of Nuristan province where they were flown by helicopter back to Kabul, Safiullah said.
"In the history of my life," he said. "I will never forget this."
The Associated Press
Afghan Refugees at Risk in Flood Stricken Pakistan
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says Afghan refugees who are living in flood-stricken Pakistan are among the most vulnerable victims.
U.S. helicopters arrive in Pakistan
Two U.S. Navy helicopters arrived in Pakistan, as part of the U.S. assistance to Pakistan's flood relief effort, the U.S. State Department said.
The two Navy MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopters are part of the 19 helicopters urgently ordered to Pakistan on Wednesday by U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, the State Department said in a statement, adding the remaining aircraft will arrive over the next few days.
The U.S. assistance to the flood-affected areas of Pakistan has totaled 76 million U.S. dollars, the State Department said on Thursday.
Washington is wooing Pakistan's support to salvage its war efforts in Afghanistan, including holding the first bilateral strategic dialogue in March and providing attractive aid packages to Islamabad.
The two Navy MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopters are part of the 19 helicopters urgently ordered to Pakistan on Wednesday by U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, the State Department said in a statement, adding the remaining aircraft will arrive over the next few days.
The U.S. assistance to the flood-affected areas of Pakistan has totaled 76 million U.S. dollars, the State Department said on Thursday.
Washington is wooing Pakistan's support to salvage its war efforts in Afghanistan, including holding the first bilateral strategic dialogue in March and providing attractive aid packages to Islamabad.
Impact of Pakistan floods
The most serious floods in Pakistan in decades will compound economic and political problems for the nuclear-armed US ally.
Following are some scenarios for what might unfold in coming weeks.
Political Outlook: The government is in no immediate danger of being brought down. The ruling coalition, led by President Asif Ali Zardari's party, has a comfortable majority in parliament and the military, which unlike the government is seen to have responded effectively to the disaster, is not going to stage a coup. But anger with a government already unpopular is likely to intensify. The economic impact of the floods will be severe and food shortages and rising prices could spark protests. The opposition, led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, has been critical of the government but has not called street protests.
Analysts say the opposition is content to let the government struggle but opposition leaders could come under pressure from their rank and file to take advantage of growing discontent to go on the offensive. A well-organized opposition taking the lead of popular protests over prices and food shortages could be explosive. In a worst-case scenario, the military might feel compelled to step in if protests got out of hand. But analysts say the opposition is loathe to create the conditions which would precipitate military intervention, which would block its bid to gain power through a general election, due by 2013.
ECONOMIC PROSPECTS: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned of major economic harm and the Finance Ministry said the country would miss this year's 4.5 percent gross domestic product growth target though it was not clear by how much. Growth was 4.1 percent last year. Apart from damage to people's homes, the floods have caused extensive damage to roads, bridges and irrigation works. The United Nations has said long-term rehabilitation costs would run into the billions of dollars. Of most concern is damage to agriculture, the mainstay of the economy. About 500,000 tonnes of wheat stocked with farmers has been lost. Sugar output will also be hit by a similar amount, according to initial estimates. Up to 2 million bales of cotton, out of targetted output of 14 million bales, had been lost, industry officials said. That will mean the textile sector, which accounts for about 60 percent of exports, will have to import more cotton to feed mills. With higher transport costs and food shortages, inflation, and the public anger that will spark, is a major worry. The consumer price index came in at 12.34 year-on-year in July and will head higher.
The government has already been struggling to meet an IMF target for a fiscal deficit 4 percent of gross domestic product this year. The flood crisis will mean more strain. One analyst said he expected a fiscal deficit of 8 percent this year. If that is financed by borrowing from the central bank, inflation will be pushed up further.
The government will come under domestic pressure to slide on IMF requirements under its $11.3 billion loan programme.
Moves to cut subsidies, to increase taxes, including introduce a value-added tax, and to reform the public sector enterprises are all likely to be delayed.
Pakistan could also see some capital flight as people move funds to safe havens but that is likely to be off-set by higher remittances from workers abroad, sending more of their pay home to help relatives.
By ROBERT BIRSEL: www.mb.com.ph
Following are some scenarios for what might unfold in coming weeks.
Political Outlook: The government is in no immediate danger of being brought down. The ruling coalition, led by President Asif Ali Zardari's party, has a comfortable majority in parliament and the military, which unlike the government is seen to have responded effectively to the disaster, is not going to stage a coup. But anger with a government already unpopular is likely to intensify. The economic impact of the floods will be severe and food shortages and rising prices could spark protests. The opposition, led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, has been critical of the government but has not called street protests.
Analysts say the opposition is content to let the government struggle but opposition leaders could come under pressure from their rank and file to take advantage of growing discontent to go on the offensive. A well-organized opposition taking the lead of popular protests over prices and food shortages could be explosive. In a worst-case scenario, the military might feel compelled to step in if protests got out of hand. But analysts say the opposition is loathe to create the conditions which would precipitate military intervention, which would block its bid to gain power through a general election, due by 2013.
ECONOMIC PROSPECTS: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned of major economic harm and the Finance Ministry said the country would miss this year's 4.5 percent gross domestic product growth target though it was not clear by how much. Growth was 4.1 percent last year. Apart from damage to people's homes, the floods have caused extensive damage to roads, bridges and irrigation works. The United Nations has said long-term rehabilitation costs would run into the billions of dollars. Of most concern is damage to agriculture, the mainstay of the economy. About 500,000 tonnes of wheat stocked with farmers has been lost. Sugar output will also be hit by a similar amount, according to initial estimates. Up to 2 million bales of cotton, out of targetted output of 14 million bales, had been lost, industry officials said. That will mean the textile sector, which accounts for about 60 percent of exports, will have to import more cotton to feed mills. With higher transport costs and food shortages, inflation, and the public anger that will spark, is a major worry. The consumer price index came in at 12.34 year-on-year in July and will head higher.
The government has already been struggling to meet an IMF target for a fiscal deficit 4 percent of gross domestic product this year. The flood crisis will mean more strain. One analyst said he expected a fiscal deficit of 8 percent this year. If that is financed by borrowing from the central bank, inflation will be pushed up further.
The government will come under domestic pressure to slide on IMF requirements under its $11.3 billion loan programme.
Moves to cut subsidies, to increase taxes, including introduce a value-added tax, and to reform the public sector enterprises are all likely to be delayed.
Pakistan could also see some capital flight as people move funds to safe havens but that is likely to be off-set by higher remittances from workers abroad, sending more of their pay home to help relatives.
By ROBERT BIRSEL: www.mb.com.ph
U.N. chief to meet Pakistan leaders over floods
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will meet Pakistani leaders on Sunday to discuss the country's worst floods in decades as popular anger mounts over the government's failure to tackle the crisis.
Nearly 12 percent of the population, some 20 million people, have been affected by one of the worst catastrophes in Pakistan's history. Six million still need food, shelter and water, according to the United Nations.
Ban will meet both Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari, who has been a lightning rod for popular anger after traveling to Europe in the middle of the catastrophe and not cutting short his trip.
The UN leader plans to visit flood hit areas on Sunday.
The floods, triggered by torrential monsoon downpours just over two weeks ago, engulfed Pakistan's Indus river basin, killing up to 1,600 people.
Ban's visit comes as millions of Pakistanis are increasingly frustrated by the government that has already been hit by political bickering and growing militant violence,
Flood victims have complained that not enough government aid is arriving and looting has occurred in many flood hit areas amid increasing signs of lawlessness.
Pakistan's government has been accused of being too slow to respond to the crisis with victims relying mostly on the military and foreign aid agencies for help.
Floodwaters pose new threats to the populous Sindh province and the southwest province of Baluchistan, a region also hit by a decades long separatist insurgency.
In the northwest Swat valley, flour, cooking oil and rice were carried by mules along narrow mountain tracks to 150,000 people in Shahpur, with roads cut off and the weather too bad for helicopters.
Despite the government's perceived failure to tackle the crisis, a military coup is unlikely. The army's priority is fighting Taliban insurgents, and seizing power during a disaster would make no sense, analysts say.
It already sets security policies and influences foreign policy, and is described by some as a state within a state.
The International Monetary Fund has warned of major economic harm and the Finance Ministry said it would miss this year's 4.5 percent gross domestic product growth target.
Any economic downturn would come just as the government aims to fund projects across the country to win hearts and minds in the battle against the Taliban.
Wheat, cotton and sugar crops have all suffered damage in a country where agriculture is a mainstay of the economy.
Nearly 12 percent of the population, some 20 million people, have been affected by one of the worst catastrophes in Pakistan's history. Six million still need food, shelter and water, according to the United Nations.
Ban will meet both Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari, who has been a lightning rod for popular anger after traveling to Europe in the middle of the catastrophe and not cutting short his trip.
The UN leader plans to visit flood hit areas on Sunday.
The floods, triggered by torrential monsoon downpours just over two weeks ago, engulfed Pakistan's Indus river basin, killing up to 1,600 people.
Ban's visit comes as millions of Pakistanis are increasingly frustrated by the government that has already been hit by political bickering and growing militant violence,
Flood victims have complained that not enough government aid is arriving and looting has occurred in many flood hit areas amid increasing signs of lawlessness.
Pakistan's government has been accused of being too slow to respond to the crisis with victims relying mostly on the military and foreign aid agencies for help.
Floodwaters pose new threats to the populous Sindh province and the southwest province of Baluchistan, a region also hit by a decades long separatist insurgency.
In the northwest Swat valley, flour, cooking oil and rice were carried by mules along narrow mountain tracks to 150,000 people in Shahpur, with roads cut off and the weather too bad for helicopters.
Despite the government's perceived failure to tackle the crisis, a military coup is unlikely. The army's priority is fighting Taliban insurgents, and seizing power during a disaster would make no sense, analysts say.
It already sets security policies and influences foreign policy, and is described by some as a state within a state.
The International Monetary Fund has warned of major economic harm and the Finance Ministry said it would miss this year's 4.5 percent gross domestic product growth target.
Any economic downturn would come just as the government aims to fund projects across the country to win hearts and minds in the battle against the Taliban.
Wheat, cotton and sugar crops have all suffered damage in a country where agriculture is a mainstay of the economy.
Pakistan flood crisis raises fears of country's collapse
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The humanitarian and economic disaster caused by the worst floods in Pakistan's history could spark political unrest that could destabilize the government, dealing a major blow to the Obama administration's efforts to fight violent Islamic extremism.
The government's shambling response to floods that have affected a third of the country has some analysts saying that President Asif Ali Zardari could be forced from office, possibly by the military, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half its 63-year history.
Other experts caution that the state itself could collapse, as hunger and destitution trigger explosions of popular anger that was already seething over massive unemployment, high fuel prices, widespread power outages, corruption, and a bloody insurgency by extremists allied with al Qaida .
"The powers that be, that is the military and bureaucratic establishment, are mulling the formation of a national government, with or without the PPP (Zardari's ruling Pakistan Peoples Party )," said Najam Sethi , the editor of the weekly Friday Times. "I know this is definitely being discussed.
"There is a perception in the army that you need good governance to get out of the economic crisis and there is no good governance," he said.
The Obama administration stepped up emergency aid this week to $76 million , anxious to counter the influence of Islamic extremist groups that are feeding and housing victims through charitable front organizations in areas the government hasn't reached.
Some U.S. officials worry that those groups could exploit the crisis to recruit new members and bolster their fight to impose hard-line Islamic rule on nuclear-armed Pakistan .
"I think the mid- to long-term radicalization threat accelerates because of the mass migration and the frustration that is coming from this," said Thomas Lynch , a research fellow at the National Defense University in Washington .
Pakistan is battling militant groups led by the Pakistani Taliban, whose strongholds on the country's northwestern fringe also provide bases to al Qaida , the Afghan Taliban and allied extremists fighting NATO and Afghan troops in neighboring Afghanistan .
The Pentagon announced Friday that a three-ship taskforce carrying 2,000 Marines, Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, transport helicopters and relief supplies is sailing for Pakistan . It will replace the U.S.S. Peleliu, an amphibious assault vessel steaming off the port of Karachi that's lent 19 helicopters and 1,000 Marines to the aid operations.
U.S. officials, who requested anonymity so they could speak more freely, downplayed the threat of near-term political upheaval, and they dismissed the danger of a coup, saying that the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani , wants the military out of politics.
"The military is perfectly happy to let the civilian government screw up," one U.S. official said. "The military does not want to take over because they get blamed for all the deficiencies in government."
The potential for serious turmoil, these U.S. officials said, will grow after the floods subside. Then the government must grapple with the task of rebuilding roads, bridges and other infrastructure and caring for millions of impoverished, mostly rural people who've lost their homes, crops and livestock.
"The Pakistani military quickly mobilized to support relief efforts in areas affected by the floods, and . . . seems to be handling things effectively," a second U.S. official said. "The popular ire so far seems directed at the (government). As with any natural disaster, the reconstruction phase can be a challenge, and that's when Pakistan's civilian agencies will need to step up to the plate. That'll be the real test."
The floods have affected 14 million people, of whom at least 1,600 have died and some 3 million have been left homeless. However, the impact will be felt throughout the impoverished country of 180 million.
The World Bank said Friday that an estimated $1 billion worth of crops have been wiped out, raising the specter of food shortages. Damage to irrigation canals, the bank added, will reduce crop yields once the floodwaters are gone.
The situation worsened Friday as authorities ordered the evacuation of Jacobabad, a city of 1.4 million people in southern Sindh province, and forecasters warned that fresh monsoon rains in the mountainous northwest would send a new wave of flooding south down the central Indus River valley over the weekend.
The PPP-led government came to power in 2008 elections that ended the last bout of military rule, which lasted eight years under Gen. Pervez Musharraf .
An economic slide that began just as the Musharraf era was ending has significantly worsened and the current administration is surviving on an International Monetary Fund bailout. It says that the floods could halve economic growth and force it to divert funds from development programs to relief efforts.
Zardari, who went on with a high-rolling official visit to France and Britain while his country grappled with its worst-ever natural disaster, is the focus of much of the anger over the government's inability to cope. He assumed control of the PPP after the assassination of his wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto , in December 2007 .
Only the courts could legally dismiss him and the government. However, the PPP rules through a minority government, and behind-the-scenes military pressure on its coalition partners could bring it down, forcing new elections, Sethi said.
Another outright coup is considered unlikely, but few people rule it out entirely.
"If the military takes over now, I can assure you that it will be the end of Pakistan , an end which will be punctuated by a very bloody civil war," said Asad Sayeed , a political analyst. " Pakistan is a very divided country right now."
Pakistan has lurched from crisis to crisis. Its most painful episode was the break-up of the country in 1971, when then- East Pakistan seceded and became Bangladesh .
The bloody uprising in East Pakistan received a final push from Islamabad's poor response to a 1970 cyclone that killed an estimated 500,000 people. While there is no equivalent secessionist movement in what's left of Pakistan , some experts worry that the floods could boost popular support for hardline Islamists.
"Within months of Cyclone Bhola, an ideology — Bengali nationalism — feeding off economic deprivation and post-disaster hopelessness took half the country away," columnist Moazzam Hussain reminded readers on Friday in Dawn, the main English-language daily. "This time, a renegade religious ideology — feeding off the consequences of the present disaster — is drooling to take away the remainder."
The government's shambling response to floods that have affected a third of the country has some analysts saying that President Asif Ali Zardari could be forced from office, possibly by the military, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half its 63-year history.
Other experts caution that the state itself could collapse, as hunger and destitution trigger explosions of popular anger that was already seething over massive unemployment, high fuel prices, widespread power outages, corruption, and a bloody insurgency by extremists allied with al Qaida .
"The powers that be, that is the military and bureaucratic establishment, are mulling the formation of a national government, with or without the PPP (Zardari's ruling Pakistan Peoples Party )," said Najam Sethi , the editor of the weekly Friday Times. "I know this is definitely being discussed.
"There is a perception in the army that you need good governance to get out of the economic crisis and there is no good governance," he said.
The Obama administration stepped up emergency aid this week to $76 million , anxious to counter the influence of Islamic extremist groups that are feeding and housing victims through charitable front organizations in areas the government hasn't reached.
Some U.S. officials worry that those groups could exploit the crisis to recruit new members and bolster their fight to impose hard-line Islamic rule on nuclear-armed Pakistan .
"I think the mid- to long-term radicalization threat accelerates because of the mass migration and the frustration that is coming from this," said Thomas Lynch , a research fellow at the National Defense University in Washington .
Pakistan is battling militant groups led by the Pakistani Taliban, whose strongholds on the country's northwestern fringe also provide bases to al Qaida , the Afghan Taliban and allied extremists fighting NATO and Afghan troops in neighboring Afghanistan .
The Pentagon announced Friday that a three-ship taskforce carrying 2,000 Marines, Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, transport helicopters and relief supplies is sailing for Pakistan . It will replace the U.S.S. Peleliu, an amphibious assault vessel steaming off the port of Karachi that's lent 19 helicopters and 1,000 Marines to the aid operations.
U.S. officials, who requested anonymity so they could speak more freely, downplayed the threat of near-term political upheaval, and they dismissed the danger of a coup, saying that the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani , wants the military out of politics.
"The military is perfectly happy to let the civilian government screw up," one U.S. official said. "The military does not want to take over because they get blamed for all the deficiencies in government."
The potential for serious turmoil, these U.S. officials said, will grow after the floods subside. Then the government must grapple with the task of rebuilding roads, bridges and other infrastructure and caring for millions of impoverished, mostly rural people who've lost their homes, crops and livestock.
"The Pakistani military quickly mobilized to support relief efforts in areas affected by the floods, and . . . seems to be handling things effectively," a second U.S. official said. "The popular ire so far seems directed at the (government). As with any natural disaster, the reconstruction phase can be a challenge, and that's when Pakistan's civilian agencies will need to step up to the plate. That'll be the real test."
The floods have affected 14 million people, of whom at least 1,600 have died and some 3 million have been left homeless. However, the impact will be felt throughout the impoverished country of 180 million.
The World Bank said Friday that an estimated $1 billion worth of crops have been wiped out, raising the specter of food shortages. Damage to irrigation canals, the bank added, will reduce crop yields once the floodwaters are gone.
The situation worsened Friday as authorities ordered the evacuation of Jacobabad, a city of 1.4 million people in southern Sindh province, and forecasters warned that fresh monsoon rains in the mountainous northwest would send a new wave of flooding south down the central Indus River valley over the weekend.
The PPP-led government came to power in 2008 elections that ended the last bout of military rule, which lasted eight years under Gen. Pervez Musharraf .
An economic slide that began just as the Musharraf era was ending has significantly worsened and the current administration is surviving on an International Monetary Fund bailout. It says that the floods could halve economic growth and force it to divert funds from development programs to relief efforts.
Zardari, who went on with a high-rolling official visit to France and Britain while his country grappled with its worst-ever natural disaster, is the focus of much of the anger over the government's inability to cope. He assumed control of the PPP after the assassination of his wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto , in December 2007 .
Only the courts could legally dismiss him and the government. However, the PPP rules through a minority government, and behind-the-scenes military pressure on its coalition partners could bring it down, forcing new elections, Sethi said.
Another outright coup is considered unlikely, but few people rule it out entirely.
"If the military takes over now, I can assure you that it will be the end of Pakistan , an end which will be punctuated by a very bloody civil war," said Asad Sayeed , a political analyst. " Pakistan is a very divided country right now."
Pakistan has lurched from crisis to crisis. Its most painful episode was the break-up of the country in 1971, when then- East Pakistan seceded and became Bangladesh .
The bloody uprising in East Pakistan received a final push from Islamabad's poor response to a 1970 cyclone that killed an estimated 500,000 people. While there is no equivalent secessionist movement in what's left of Pakistan , some experts worry that the floods could boost popular support for hardline Islamists.
"Within months of Cyclone Bhola, an ideology — Bengali nationalism — feeding off economic deprivation and post-disaster hopelessness took half the country away," columnist Moazzam Hussain reminded readers on Friday in Dawn, the main English-language daily. "This time, a renegade religious ideology — feeding off the consequences of the present disaster — is drooling to take away the remainder."
Friday, August 13, 2010
US Farmers Depend on Illegal Immigrants
As summer fruits and vegetables ripen across U.S. farmland, the work of harvesting them depends on illegal immigrants.
Americans are sharply divided over what to do about illegal immigration in the United States. Conservatives have been harshly critical of the Obama administration for blocking a controversial Arizona law intended to identify and deport more illegal immigrants, who critics say are taking American jobs.
But farmers across the country have a different view. As Americans have moved away from agriculture, farm employers say they have come to rely on illegal immigrants to harvest the fresh fruits and vegetables on the nation's dinner tables.
The squash harvest is underway in the eastern state of Virginia. A crew of Hispanic workers are picking, washing, and packing the bright yellow vegetables destined for supermarkets across the East Coast.
Like generations of immigrants before them, they came to America seeking economic opportunities.
Many come illegally. One worker — called simply Martinez to protect his identity — says he paid a Mexican smuggler two thousand dollars to transport him across the U.S.- Mexico border. He walked across the desert for eight nights and slept by day before making his way here to Virginia.
"We come to advance ourselves, more than anything," Martinez says. "And in our country, we can't do anything. For a better future, I came to this side. And the truth is, we really suffer a lot to get across."
'They come for work'
Loreto Ventura first crossed the border illegally 30 years ago to work in the fields. He's a farm crew boss now, and a U.S. citizen.
"They come to work," he says. "They pay a lot of money to come here, and they risk [their] lives for work. And for work that's hard work."
Farm workers are up before dawn every morning and work all day in the hot sun. They spend the day stooping over picking vegetables and carrying heavy loads.
Of the roughly one million farm workers in the United States, most are immigrants, and an estimated one-quarter to one-half of them are illegal.
Farm work? No, thanks
With U.S. unemployment near 10 percent, many believe illegal immigrants are taking jobs from Americans. But when the United Farm Workers union launched a campaign offering to connect unemployed people to farm jobs, only three people accepted -- out of thousands of inquiries.
Union president Arturo Rodriguez says most balked at the difficult working conditions.
"They really don't have any idea what it is to work in agriculture today," he says. "We've just gotten so far away from that type of society that people have forgotten."
The United States has a guest worker program that would allow farm employers to hire immigrants legally. But farmers like this one — who asked to remain anonymous — describe it as a bureaucratic nightmare.
"Every farmer I know would gladly use the program and be legal," he says. "Every Hispanic would love to be legal. But the program is so onerous, it's so hard to use, and so expensive....And you don't necessarily get your people. [If] the crop is ready, [and] the people are not here, boom, it's a loss. Most growers will not take that chance."
He says he's tried to hire Americans, but he simply can't find enough able and willing do the work.
"The truth is, nobody is raising their kids to be farm workers," he says.
Lower wages?
But Jack Martin with the Federation for American Immigration Reform says that's not the whole story.
"I think it's true that parents have higher aspirations for their kids than agricultural labor," he says. "Nevertheless, there are a lot of unemployed people who, if they could make a living wage working in agriculture, I think, would do so."
Martin says wages, benefits and labor conditions for farm workers have remained relatively poor for decades because of the steady stream of illegal immigrant labor.
As for the guest worker program, he says, "It is true that it is more expensive than hiring the illegal immigrant that shows up with fake documents because of the fact that there are protections for the American workers — they have to hire American workers if they are available first — and there are protections for the foreign workers."
Without those protections, Martin says, illegal immigrants are at risk of exploitation.
A bill that would reform the immigration system is stuck in Congress. Meanwhile, farmers are increasingly concerned about losing their workforce to immigration crackdowns. They say without workers to pick the crops, fresh fruits and vegetables will rot in the fields of American farms.
And eventually, they say, those farms would wither away, too.
Americans are sharply divided over what to do about illegal immigration in the United States. Conservatives have been harshly critical of the Obama administration for blocking a controversial Arizona law intended to identify and deport more illegal immigrants, who critics say are taking American jobs.
But farmers across the country have a different view. As Americans have moved away from agriculture, farm employers say they have come to rely on illegal immigrants to harvest the fresh fruits and vegetables on the nation's dinner tables.
The squash harvest is underway in the eastern state of Virginia. A crew of Hispanic workers are picking, washing, and packing the bright yellow vegetables destined for supermarkets across the East Coast.
Like generations of immigrants before them, they came to America seeking economic opportunities.
Many come illegally. One worker — called simply Martinez to protect his identity — says he paid a Mexican smuggler two thousand dollars to transport him across the U.S.- Mexico border. He walked across the desert for eight nights and slept by day before making his way here to Virginia.
"We come to advance ourselves, more than anything," Martinez says. "And in our country, we can't do anything. For a better future, I came to this side. And the truth is, we really suffer a lot to get across."
'They come for work'
Loreto Ventura first crossed the border illegally 30 years ago to work in the fields. He's a farm crew boss now, and a U.S. citizen.
"They come to work," he says. "They pay a lot of money to come here, and they risk [their] lives for work. And for work that's hard work."
Farm workers are up before dawn every morning and work all day in the hot sun. They spend the day stooping over picking vegetables and carrying heavy loads.
Of the roughly one million farm workers in the United States, most are immigrants, and an estimated one-quarter to one-half of them are illegal.
Farm work? No, thanks
With U.S. unemployment near 10 percent, many believe illegal immigrants are taking jobs from Americans. But when the United Farm Workers union launched a campaign offering to connect unemployed people to farm jobs, only three people accepted -- out of thousands of inquiries.
Union president Arturo Rodriguez says most balked at the difficult working conditions.
"They really don't have any idea what it is to work in agriculture today," he says. "We've just gotten so far away from that type of society that people have forgotten."
The United States has a guest worker program that would allow farm employers to hire immigrants legally. But farmers like this one — who asked to remain anonymous — describe it as a bureaucratic nightmare.
"Every farmer I know would gladly use the program and be legal," he says. "Every Hispanic would love to be legal. But the program is so onerous, it's so hard to use, and so expensive....And you don't necessarily get your people. [If] the crop is ready, [and] the people are not here, boom, it's a loss. Most growers will not take that chance."
He says he's tried to hire Americans, but he simply can't find enough able and willing do the work.
"The truth is, nobody is raising their kids to be farm workers," he says.
Lower wages?
But Jack Martin with the Federation for American Immigration Reform says that's not the whole story.
"I think it's true that parents have higher aspirations for their kids than agricultural labor," he says. "Nevertheless, there are a lot of unemployed people who, if they could make a living wage working in agriculture, I think, would do so."
Martin says wages, benefits and labor conditions for farm workers have remained relatively poor for decades because of the steady stream of illegal immigrant labor.
As for the guest worker program, he says, "It is true that it is more expensive than hiring the illegal immigrant that shows up with fake documents because of the fact that there are protections for the American workers — they have to hire American workers if they are available first — and there are protections for the foreign workers."
Without those protections, Martin says, illegal immigrants are at risk of exploitation.
A bill that would reform the immigration system is stuck in Congress. Meanwhile, farmers are increasingly concerned about losing their workforce to immigration crackdowns. They say without workers to pick the crops, fresh fruits and vegetables will rot in the fields of American farms.
And eventually, they say, those farms would wither away, too.
US New Jobless Claims Highest in Six Months
U.S. unemployment claims hit their highest level in nearly six months last week, evidence that the job market is not recovering as fast as economists had hoped.
Thursday's report from the Labor Department showed the number of people signing up for unemployment assistance rose 2,000 to hit a total of 484,000 across the country.
Economists say the slow and uneven recovery of the job market hurts the consumer spending that drives most U.S. economic activity. Weak consumer spending is slowing overall economic recovery and growth.
The jobs data follows earlier reports that disappointed investors, including one showing the U.S. trade deficit getting worse.
U.S. President Barack Obama has said his administration is doing everything it can to bolster the economic recovery that he says "has a long way to go."
The economy is likely to play a key role in November's mid-term elections that will determine how many seats Mr. Obama's Democratic Party allies will hold and how much power will go to opposition Republicans
Thursday's report from the Labor Department showed the number of people signing up for unemployment assistance rose 2,000 to hit a total of 484,000 across the country.
Economists say the slow and uneven recovery of the job market hurts the consumer spending that drives most U.S. economic activity. Weak consumer spending is slowing overall economic recovery and growth.
The jobs data follows earlier reports that disappointed investors, including one showing the U.S. trade deficit getting worse.
U.S. President Barack Obama has said his administration is doing everything it can to bolster the economic recovery that he says "has a long way to go."
The economy is likely to play a key role in November's mid-term elections that will determine how many seats Mr. Obama's Democratic Party allies will hold and how much power will go to opposition Republicans
Kerry Sets Visit to Pakistan as US Boosts Flood Aid
The State Department says Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry will visit Pakistan next week to survey damage from the country's flood disaster. Kerry is a key sponsor of the long-term U.S. civilian aid plan for Pakistan approved by Congress last year.
The United States has sent scores of civilian and military relief workers and experts to Pakistan, but Senator Kerry will be the highest-level U.S. political figure to visit since the flooding began last month.
Kerry was a co-sponsor of the five-year, $7.5-billion civilian aid program to Pakistan approved by Congress last year.
State Department officials say the Kerry visit is intended to help raise awareness of Pakistani relief needs among the U.S. public, and to discuss how the Kerry-Lugar-Berman aid plan might be recalibrated to deal with flood related needs.
The State Department said Thursday that the U.S. financial commitment to Pakistan flood relief has reached $76 million, and that discussions are underway on how the Kerry-Lugar-Berman program might help in Pakistan's long-term flood recovery.
At a news briefing, the U.S. Agency for International Development's acting disaster-assistance director Mark Ward said the world community's commitment to Pakistan must remain long after the flood waters recede.
"The United States will," said Mark Ward. "And you can get that we will use all of our resources to keep the other nations behind us. The Kerry-Lugar-Berman funding is robust, and the people in the field who are deciding how to spend that money are re-thinking their plans because of the flood. Almost everything they were planning to do in terms of you know, better energy, better water, better infrastructure, has been impacted by the floods."
U.S. officials are pressing for more flood relief contributions from American corporations and private citizens.
The State Department's Deputy Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Dan Feldman said sudden natural disasters, such as the 2004 East Asian tsunami and Pakistan's 2005 earthquake generated far more early contributions.
Feldman said the poor global economic picture and so-called donor fatigue after this year's Haiti earthquake are problems, but said the fund-raising for Pakistan flood relief should increase as the dimensions of the damage and losses become clearer.
"The story, as a story, is very different. It is incremental in nature," said Dan Feldman. "And it takes quite a while for people to focus in on it and see what the implications are, especially - as we keep noting - the ramifications may well be medium-term and longer term in nature as well as more immediate."
The first two of 19 U.S. military helicopters ordered to Pakistan this week by Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived at an air base near Islamabad Thursday.
They will replace six U.S. helicopters and crews diverted to Pakistan from Afghanistan duty several days ago, and which are credited with helping rescue more than 3,000 people.
The United States has sent scores of civilian and military relief workers and experts to Pakistan, but Senator Kerry will be the highest-level U.S. political figure to visit since the flooding began last month.
Kerry was a co-sponsor of the five-year, $7.5-billion civilian aid program to Pakistan approved by Congress last year.
State Department officials say the Kerry visit is intended to help raise awareness of Pakistani relief needs among the U.S. public, and to discuss how the Kerry-Lugar-Berman aid plan might be recalibrated to deal with flood related needs.
The State Department said Thursday that the U.S. financial commitment to Pakistan flood relief has reached $76 million, and that discussions are underway on how the Kerry-Lugar-Berman program might help in Pakistan's long-term flood recovery.
At a news briefing, the U.S. Agency for International Development's acting disaster-assistance director Mark Ward said the world community's commitment to Pakistan must remain long after the flood waters recede.
"The United States will," said Mark Ward. "And you can get that we will use all of our resources to keep the other nations behind us. The Kerry-Lugar-Berman funding is robust, and the people in the field who are deciding how to spend that money are re-thinking their plans because of the flood. Almost everything they were planning to do in terms of you know, better energy, better water, better infrastructure, has been impacted by the floods."
U.S. officials are pressing for more flood relief contributions from American corporations and private citizens.
The State Department's Deputy Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Dan Feldman said sudden natural disasters, such as the 2004 East Asian tsunami and Pakistan's 2005 earthquake generated far more early contributions.
Feldman said the poor global economic picture and so-called donor fatigue after this year's Haiti earthquake are problems, but said the fund-raising for Pakistan flood relief should increase as the dimensions of the damage and losses become clearer.
"The story, as a story, is very different. It is incremental in nature," said Dan Feldman. "And it takes quite a while for people to focus in on it and see what the implications are, especially - as we keep noting - the ramifications may well be medium-term and longer term in nature as well as more immediate."
The first two of 19 U.S. military helicopters ordered to Pakistan this week by Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived at an air base near Islamabad Thursday.
They will replace six U.S. helicopters and crews diverted to Pakistan from Afghanistan duty several days ago, and which are credited with helping rescue more than 3,000 people.
Why is the world unmoved by the plight of Pakistan?
Surrounded by brown, fast-shifting water on all sides, the 40 or so families in the village-turned-island had received no food, no medicine and no news as to when they might be rescued.
"We're dying of hunger," shrieked the woman, Sughra Bibi, as volunteers on the boat handed over plastic bags of lentils and cartons of milk to the villagers who gathered around her. One of them shouted out: "We don't care if it's the chief minister or the prime minister, but no one is sending anything to us. We are only waiting for God's help."
Across a huge swathe of central Punjab, Pakistan's famously fertile agricultural belt, now besieged by unprecedented floods, such scenes are being played out a thousand times or more. While countless numbers have by now been rescued from the waters, hundreds remain cut off from dry land
Both the rescued and the stranded are hot and angry, tired and bewildered, having seen their livelihoods destroyed and struggling now with just the barest of assistance from the authorities. Even if they had heard the news, few would have been moved by President's Asif Ali Zardari's belated return to the country and his appearance at a photo opportunity yesterday in the south, where he handed out supplies.
Here, amid the small villages west of the city of Multan, home of the country's Prime Minister, Yousaf Gilani, everyone tells the same story as to what happened four days ago: the waters came silently during the night, like a thief slipping into the village. Those who heeded warnings of the anticipated surge had gathered together what they could, and moved themselves to higher ground. Others awoke to find themselves scrambling for their lives amid a landscape of shimmering water where once there had been fields. All they could do was wait for the rescue boats.
The boat which The Independent accompanied flew the black and white banner of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the supposedly banned Islamic charity, accused by the UN Security Council of being a front for militants who allegedly planned and carried out the 2008 terror attacks on Mumbai.
In this natural disaster, as in several before, the Lahore-based group has played a central role delivering aid, rescuing people and providing emergency medical help. With the army and civilian rescue teams utterly overstretched by the scale of the disaster – now estimated to affect a quarter of the country – the charity's efforts have been embraced by the public. When they deliver food or rescue somebody, they ensure that people know who is providing this help.
"We are taking out food to people who are stranded," said Navid Umar, a friendly but serious young man from Lahore, who was the group's leader. "We're doing 25 trips a day."
The journey to reach the stranded villagers cut through an unlikely landscape of flooded buildings and verdant date palms, half-submerged by the water, past houses on scraps of land where people lay on charpoy beds and waited for the water to recede.
Elsewhere, small groups struggled through the floods to try and reach help, belongings balanced on their heads, feeling their feet uncertainly in the current. At one point, a man guided his wife, who was covered in a bright white burqa, through a long stretch of water that came up to their waists. Children, oblivious to the nature of the crisis, splashed and played.
It was blisteringly hot, even by the furnace-like standards of a south Asian summer, and on one journey a young woman lifted into the boat to be transported to the "mainland" fainted from the heat. It was suggested that her family try and cool her down by fanning her, but the only thing to use was a slightly sodden Jamaat-ud-Dawa pamphlet, proclaiming the charity's good deeds. The family gladly took it and started to waft it back and forth in front of her face as she lay quietly, her head tilted back.
Aside from the heat, the rescue mission was made more difficult, said Mr Umar, by the likelihood of snakes in the water and the amount of weeds and debris that kept becoming entangled around the propeller shaft of the boat's outboard motor. He said that several times the boat had become grounded and that on one occasion they found themselves stuck on the roof of a flooded house.
In addition, yesterday was also the first day of Ramadan, the month-long fast during which Muslims are not permitted to eat or drink between sunrise and sunset. Islamic teaching makes exceptions for the ill, or else those involved in such emergencies, but the volunteers on the boat said they were observing the fast. Indeed, even though he was delivering food to those in need, Mr Umar appeared a little unsure whether they should actually be taking it.
"Are you fasting," he asked a little sternly of one man who was standing in dirty brown water up to chest. The man, seemingly bewildered, replied: "No, not in these conditions."
Mr Umar was not convinced and demanded to know why. The man sheepishly smiled and headed off with his bag of lentils.
Indeed, Mr Umar appeared to relish the challenge that confronted him and felt no need in any way to dilute his religious obligations. He said that on occasions he and his team had been unable to fulfil all of the five daily prayers according to schedule – catching up the missed one later, as is permitted – but often they would steer their boat towards a piece of land, get out and pray. Asked why a merciful God would permit such deadly, devastating floods, he replied without hesitation: "It is a test for the pious. For those who are not pious, it is a punishment."
While the men from Jamaat were at the forefront of the rescue efforts, they were not the only ones helping the needy of central Punjab. Civilian rescue teams were in attendance, as were the army and, rather incongruously, a group of adult, uniformed Scouts, complete with scarves and woggles.
While followers of Lord Baden-Powell may have had the best uniforms, it was the army that had the best equipment, and a large green truck of the 9th Balouch Regiment thundered through the flood waters, carrying people and sacks of food that had been donated by the local Lions Club.
"The water on this side is going down but on the other side it may be rising," said Mohammed Arshad, a 25-year army veteran, who was also not eating or drinking. "Just two days ago the water was up to the windscreen."
Yet while the water may be slowly receding, at least here, the anger and frustration of people is not. Tens of thousands of people, who had little before the floods arrived, have been evacuated, dropped off at emergency camps in Multan and nearby Muzaffargarh, or, more likely, forced to find shelter on the side of the road leading away from the floods where countless families are camped out. Elsewhere across Pakistan, more rain is predicted and several cities in the southern province of Sindh still risk having their flood defences breached.
About five miles from the floodwater's edge, a group of 38 families from Baseera, all of them kiln-workers, had taken over a sandy hillock. There was no water, no shade, and unlike other families who had managed to save their livestock – buffalo, camels and cattle – this community had just two tethered goats. Each family was occupying a tiny makeshift home constructed from two rope beds and a mat. "All we are left with is what you can see," said Mehboob Ahmed, one of the villagers.
Everyone agreed that they would return as soon as they could, as soon as the water that had taken their homes had gone. They also agreed that these terrible floods were like nothing anyone had ever witnessed before.
Except, perhaps, for Mallick Yaru. Across the string of besieged communities, people spoke of the elderly man who had witnessed the floods of 1929, which also devastated this area and other parts of the country. He was 85, 90 perhaps even 100 years old, they said, and he lived in a village called Chowkgodar, eight miles away, where he had built a mosque on land that he owned.
At the mosque, Mr Yaru was indeed to be found, a wispy, white-haired old man who said he was 85 and resting on a charpoy. Yes, he said, he remembered the floods of 1929. There were fewer people here back then, but the waters had torn through the villages. He was only a boy of four or five at the time, but he insisted that he remembered the floods very clearly. "Those floods that came in 1929 were nothing like this," he declared. "These are very much worse."
www.independent.co.uk
"We're dying of hunger," shrieked the woman, Sughra Bibi, as volunteers on the boat handed over plastic bags of lentils and cartons of milk to the villagers who gathered around her. One of them shouted out: "We don't care if it's the chief minister or the prime minister, but no one is sending anything to us. We are only waiting for God's help."
Across a huge swathe of central Punjab, Pakistan's famously fertile agricultural belt, now besieged by unprecedented floods, such scenes are being played out a thousand times or more. While countless numbers have by now been rescued from the waters, hundreds remain cut off from dry land
Both the rescued and the stranded are hot and angry, tired and bewildered, having seen their livelihoods destroyed and struggling now with just the barest of assistance from the authorities. Even if they had heard the news, few would have been moved by President's Asif Ali Zardari's belated return to the country and his appearance at a photo opportunity yesterday in the south, where he handed out supplies.
Here, amid the small villages west of the city of Multan, home of the country's Prime Minister, Yousaf Gilani, everyone tells the same story as to what happened four days ago: the waters came silently during the night, like a thief slipping into the village. Those who heeded warnings of the anticipated surge had gathered together what they could, and moved themselves to higher ground. Others awoke to find themselves scrambling for their lives amid a landscape of shimmering water where once there had been fields. All they could do was wait for the rescue boats.
The boat which The Independent accompanied flew the black and white banner of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the supposedly banned Islamic charity, accused by the UN Security Council of being a front for militants who allegedly planned and carried out the 2008 terror attacks on Mumbai.
In this natural disaster, as in several before, the Lahore-based group has played a central role delivering aid, rescuing people and providing emergency medical help. With the army and civilian rescue teams utterly overstretched by the scale of the disaster – now estimated to affect a quarter of the country – the charity's efforts have been embraced by the public. When they deliver food or rescue somebody, they ensure that people know who is providing this help.
"We are taking out food to people who are stranded," said Navid Umar, a friendly but serious young man from Lahore, who was the group's leader. "We're doing 25 trips a day."
The journey to reach the stranded villagers cut through an unlikely landscape of flooded buildings and verdant date palms, half-submerged by the water, past houses on scraps of land where people lay on charpoy beds and waited for the water to recede.
Elsewhere, small groups struggled through the floods to try and reach help, belongings balanced on their heads, feeling their feet uncertainly in the current. At one point, a man guided his wife, who was covered in a bright white burqa, through a long stretch of water that came up to their waists. Children, oblivious to the nature of the crisis, splashed and played.
It was blisteringly hot, even by the furnace-like standards of a south Asian summer, and on one journey a young woman lifted into the boat to be transported to the "mainland" fainted from the heat. It was suggested that her family try and cool her down by fanning her, but the only thing to use was a slightly sodden Jamaat-ud-Dawa pamphlet, proclaiming the charity's good deeds. The family gladly took it and started to waft it back and forth in front of her face as she lay quietly, her head tilted back.
Aside from the heat, the rescue mission was made more difficult, said Mr Umar, by the likelihood of snakes in the water and the amount of weeds and debris that kept becoming entangled around the propeller shaft of the boat's outboard motor. He said that several times the boat had become grounded and that on one occasion they found themselves stuck on the roof of a flooded house.
In addition, yesterday was also the first day of Ramadan, the month-long fast during which Muslims are not permitted to eat or drink between sunrise and sunset. Islamic teaching makes exceptions for the ill, or else those involved in such emergencies, but the volunteers on the boat said they were observing the fast. Indeed, even though he was delivering food to those in need, Mr Umar appeared a little unsure whether they should actually be taking it.
"Are you fasting," he asked a little sternly of one man who was standing in dirty brown water up to chest. The man, seemingly bewildered, replied: "No, not in these conditions."
Mr Umar was not convinced and demanded to know why. The man sheepishly smiled and headed off with his bag of lentils.
Indeed, Mr Umar appeared to relish the challenge that confronted him and felt no need in any way to dilute his religious obligations. He said that on occasions he and his team had been unable to fulfil all of the five daily prayers according to schedule – catching up the missed one later, as is permitted – but often they would steer their boat towards a piece of land, get out and pray. Asked why a merciful God would permit such deadly, devastating floods, he replied without hesitation: "It is a test for the pious. For those who are not pious, it is a punishment."
While the men from Jamaat were at the forefront of the rescue efforts, they were not the only ones helping the needy of central Punjab. Civilian rescue teams were in attendance, as were the army and, rather incongruously, a group of adult, uniformed Scouts, complete with scarves and woggles.
While followers of Lord Baden-Powell may have had the best uniforms, it was the army that had the best equipment, and a large green truck of the 9th Balouch Regiment thundered through the flood waters, carrying people and sacks of food that had been donated by the local Lions Club.
"The water on this side is going down but on the other side it may be rising," said Mohammed Arshad, a 25-year army veteran, who was also not eating or drinking. "Just two days ago the water was up to the windscreen."
Yet while the water may be slowly receding, at least here, the anger and frustration of people is not. Tens of thousands of people, who had little before the floods arrived, have been evacuated, dropped off at emergency camps in Multan and nearby Muzaffargarh, or, more likely, forced to find shelter on the side of the road leading away from the floods where countless families are camped out. Elsewhere across Pakistan, more rain is predicted and several cities in the southern province of Sindh still risk having their flood defences breached.
About five miles from the floodwater's edge, a group of 38 families from Baseera, all of them kiln-workers, had taken over a sandy hillock. There was no water, no shade, and unlike other families who had managed to save their livestock – buffalo, camels and cattle – this community had just two tethered goats. Each family was occupying a tiny makeshift home constructed from two rope beds and a mat. "All we are left with is what you can see," said Mehboob Ahmed, one of the villagers.
Everyone agreed that they would return as soon as they could, as soon as the water that had taken their homes had gone. They also agreed that these terrible floods were like nothing anyone had ever witnessed before.
Except, perhaps, for Mallick Yaru. Across the string of besieged communities, people spoke of the elderly man who had witnessed the floods of 1929, which also devastated this area and other parts of the country. He was 85, 90 perhaps even 100 years old, they said, and he lived in a village called Chowkgodar, eight miles away, where he had built a mosque on land that he owned.
At the mosque, Mr Yaru was indeed to be found, a wispy, white-haired old man who said he was 85 and resting on a charpoy. Yes, he said, he remembered the floods of 1929. There were fewer people here back then, but the waters had torn through the villages. He was only a boy of four or five at the time, but he insisted that he remembered the floods very clearly. "Those floods that came in 1929 were nothing like this," he declared. "These are very much worse."
www.independent.co.uk
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa accuses NDMA of diverting relief goods
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has accused the National Disaster Management Authority of being more generous in dispatching relief goods to Multan, the hometown of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
According to documents of the provincial government, Multan and Sukkur districts have received the lion’s share of goods donated by different countries and charity organisations.
Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain described response of the federal government and NDMA to the crisis as pathetic and said his province had been ignored in distribution of relief goods.
“NDMA’s distribution of relief goods is not equitable and the province has received aid not commensurate with the losses it has suffered. The United Nations and other donor agencies say that 95 per cent of the damage has taken place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while the NDMA is sending relief goods to areas where magnitude of devastation is comparatively small,” Mian Iftikhar told Dawn on Thursday.
“NDMA is a national institution, but people are losing trust in it,” he said, adding that the KP government protested against unequal distribution of relief goods because it had received only a small quantity of assistance from the NDMA. “The authority should mend its ways.”
The devastating floods hit northern districts and Peshawar valley on July 28 and over 700,000 people have been rendered homeless. But instead of helping hundreds of thousands of affected people in KP, the NDMA airlifted relief goods to Multan and Sukkur.
The KP documents show that two water purification plants, 20 power generators and a large quantity of medicines were taken to Multan and Sukkur on Aug 4. Besides, 140 bags of beans, 150 cartons of milk, 100 bags of rice, 224 bags of pulses, 100 tins of cooking oil, 90 cartons of water bottles, tents, tarpaulin and medicines were sent to the two cities on Aug 7.
Also, 150 cartons of food, three water purification units, a water tank of 3,500 litres capacity, a 15KV power generator and other relief goods were dispatched by air to the prime minister’s hometown.
For Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, however, the NDMA had little to offer. According to the documents, the authority distributed only 3,616 packets of ready-to-eat meal in Riasalpur, Kohistan and Abbottabad. The packets provided by the US government were airlifted from the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, sources said.
Senior officials of the provincial government have levelled similar allegations but decline to be identified. One of them said the authority had diverted much of the relief goods to less affected areas. He said the province had received nothing from the NDMA, except a few thousands food packs. “The provincial government has received 12,000 tents from the Emergency Response Cell of the Cabinet Division and there is no evidence that the NDMA has sent a single tent for the flood-affected people since July 28,” the official said, adding that the NDMA should not take credit of relief goods received by the provincial government from the US, Saudi Arabia and charity organisations.
About 10,000 tents were stored at the warehouse of the Special Support Group in Dera Ismail Khan. The tents had been purchased for internally displaced persons from South Waziristan. But 5,000 of the tents were distributed among the displaced people in D.I. Khan on the directives of the ERC, and the rest were sent by the NDMA to Punjab.
The official said the provincial government had made desperate calls to the NDMA for mobilising its resources to rescue thousands of people stranded in Malakand division and Peshawar valleys, but to little avail.
“The Provincial Disaster Management Authority requested the NDMA and the federal government to provide helicopters, boats and relief goods, but it received no response,” said another official. “The federal government and the NDMA are offering only lip service,” he said. The NDMA’s website shows that it has provided a variety of items to the PDMA, including 41,266 tents, 10,000 mats, 15,000 ration packs, 89,150 food packets, 86,000 cooked meals and Rs21 million in cash.
But provincial officials reject the NDMA’s claim. “I can say with authority that all these statistics are absolutely wrong,” said an official.
When contacted, NDMA’s media coordinator Amal Masud said the figures shown on the website were authentic, adding that the authority had mobilised its resources to provide relief wherever needed.
According to documents of the provincial government, Multan and Sukkur districts have received the lion’s share of goods donated by different countries and charity organisations.
Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain described response of the federal government and NDMA to the crisis as pathetic and said his province had been ignored in distribution of relief goods.
“NDMA’s distribution of relief goods is not equitable and the province has received aid not commensurate with the losses it has suffered. The United Nations and other donor agencies say that 95 per cent of the damage has taken place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while the NDMA is sending relief goods to areas where magnitude of devastation is comparatively small,” Mian Iftikhar told Dawn on Thursday.
“NDMA is a national institution, but people are losing trust in it,” he said, adding that the KP government protested against unequal distribution of relief goods because it had received only a small quantity of assistance from the NDMA. “The authority should mend its ways.”
The devastating floods hit northern districts and Peshawar valley on July 28 and over 700,000 people have been rendered homeless. But instead of helping hundreds of thousands of affected people in KP, the NDMA airlifted relief goods to Multan and Sukkur.
The KP documents show that two water purification plants, 20 power generators and a large quantity of medicines were taken to Multan and Sukkur on Aug 4. Besides, 140 bags of beans, 150 cartons of milk, 100 bags of rice, 224 bags of pulses, 100 tins of cooking oil, 90 cartons of water bottles, tents, tarpaulin and medicines were sent to the two cities on Aug 7.
Also, 150 cartons of food, three water purification units, a water tank of 3,500 litres capacity, a 15KV power generator and other relief goods were dispatched by air to the prime minister’s hometown.
For Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, however, the NDMA had little to offer. According to the documents, the authority distributed only 3,616 packets of ready-to-eat meal in Riasalpur, Kohistan and Abbottabad. The packets provided by the US government were airlifted from the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, sources said.
Senior officials of the provincial government have levelled similar allegations but decline to be identified. One of them said the authority had diverted much of the relief goods to less affected areas. He said the province had received nothing from the NDMA, except a few thousands food packs. “The provincial government has received 12,000 tents from the Emergency Response Cell of the Cabinet Division and there is no evidence that the NDMA has sent a single tent for the flood-affected people since July 28,” the official said, adding that the NDMA should not take credit of relief goods received by the provincial government from the US, Saudi Arabia and charity organisations.
About 10,000 tents were stored at the warehouse of the Special Support Group in Dera Ismail Khan. The tents had been purchased for internally displaced persons from South Waziristan. But 5,000 of the tents were distributed among the displaced people in D.I. Khan on the directives of the ERC, and the rest were sent by the NDMA to Punjab.
The official said the provincial government had made desperate calls to the NDMA for mobilising its resources to rescue thousands of people stranded in Malakand division and Peshawar valleys, but to little avail.
“The Provincial Disaster Management Authority requested the NDMA and the federal government to provide helicopters, boats and relief goods, but it received no response,” said another official. “The federal government and the NDMA are offering only lip service,” he said. The NDMA’s website shows that it has provided a variety of items to the PDMA, including 41,266 tents, 10,000 mats, 15,000 ration packs, 89,150 food packets, 86,000 cooked meals and Rs21 million in cash.
But provincial officials reject the NDMA’s claim. “I can say with authority that all these statistics are absolutely wrong,” said an official.
When contacted, NDMA’s media coordinator Amal Masud said the figures shown on the website were authentic, adding that the authority had mobilised its resources to provide relief wherever needed.
UN chief to visit Pakistan Saturday
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will arrive in Pakistan on Saturday (tomorrow) to assess relief and rescue work in the flood-hit country.
Pakistan is grappling with its worst ever floods that have left over 1,600 people dead and affected over 14 million people.
The secretary-general will assess losses due to the floods and oversee relief and rescue operations.
President Asif Ali Zardari has welcomed Ban’s visit and said he is happy that the secretary-general is visiting Pakistan when the nation is facing such a tough situation.
The UN has also appealed for nearly $460 million in aid for victims of the devastating floods.
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry will also visit Pakistan Aug 18 to review the situation, officials said.
Pakistan is grappling with its worst ever floods that have left over 1,600 people dead and affected over 14 million people.
The secretary-general will assess losses due to the floods and oversee relief and rescue operations.
President Asif Ali Zardari has welcomed Ban’s visit and said he is happy that the secretary-general is visiting Pakistan when the nation is facing such a tough situation.
The UN has also appealed for nearly $460 million in aid for victims of the devastating floods.
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry will also visit Pakistan Aug 18 to review the situation, officials said.
Disease threatens Pakistani flood victims anew
Fever, stomach problems and skin diseases are spreading among Pakistani flood victims, officials said Friday, adding another dimension of danger to a crisis that could get even worse, with the U.N. warning that dams in the south may burst.
Aid workers warn that waterborne diseases and other illnesses could raise the death toll from more than two weeks of flooding to well past the estimated 1,500 people who have perished so far.
The U.S. said Friday that it would give $3 million to help establish 15 treatment centers for waterborne illnesses in the aftermath of the floods, which are estimated to have directly or indirectly affected some 14 million people.
In the Multan area of Punjab province, medical workers have seen at least 1,000 children with illnesses such as gastroenteritis in the last three days, said Mumtaz Hussain, a doctor at the main government hospital.
"The situation is alarming as the diseases can infect other survivors," Hussain said. The hospital is treating victims at its main facility but also has set up 12 medical camps in the area.
The floods have been described as the worst natural disaster in independent Pakistan's 63-year history.
Up to a quarter of the country has been affected by the floods, though not all those areas were necessarily under water, U.N. spokesman Maurizio Giuliano said. The hardest-hit region has been the northwest, where farms and infrastructure were badly damaged.
The U.N. warns that the crisis was far from over, saying dams in southern Sindh province could still burst in the coming days as bloated rivers gush through. More rains are expected over the weekend, and monsoon season is forecast to last several more weeks.
U.N. officials have launched an immediate appeal for $460 million in aid for Pakistan. The U.S. has donated more than $70 million and has sent a ship and helicopters to assist relief efforts.
To help stop the spread of illness, the U.S. is distributing hand soap and has provided mobile water treatment units that can provide clean drinking water for 10,000 people a day, the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.
Aid workers warn that waterborne diseases and other illnesses could raise the death toll from more than two weeks of flooding to well past the estimated 1,500 people who have perished so far.
The U.S. said Friday that it would give $3 million to help establish 15 treatment centers for waterborne illnesses in the aftermath of the floods, which are estimated to have directly or indirectly affected some 14 million people.
In the Multan area of Punjab province, medical workers have seen at least 1,000 children with illnesses such as gastroenteritis in the last three days, said Mumtaz Hussain, a doctor at the main government hospital.
"The situation is alarming as the diseases can infect other survivors," Hussain said. The hospital is treating victims at its main facility but also has set up 12 medical camps in the area.
The floods have been described as the worst natural disaster in independent Pakistan's 63-year history.
Up to a quarter of the country has been affected by the floods, though not all those areas were necessarily under water, U.N. spokesman Maurizio Giuliano said. The hardest-hit region has been the northwest, where farms and infrastructure were badly damaged.
The U.N. warns that the crisis was far from over, saying dams in southern Sindh province could still burst in the coming days as bloated rivers gush through. More rains are expected over the weekend, and monsoon season is forecast to last several more weeks.
U.N. officials have launched an immediate appeal for $460 million in aid for Pakistan. The U.S. has donated more than $70 million and has sent a ship and helicopters to assist relief efforts.
To help stop the spread of illness, the U.S. is distributing hand soap and has provided mobile water treatment units that can provide clean drinking water for 10,000 people a day, the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.
Disease threatens Pakistani flood victims anew
Fever, stomach problems and skin diseases are spreading among Pakistani flood victims, officials said Friday, adding another dimension of danger to a crisis that could get even worse, with the U.N. warning that dams in the south may burst.
Aid workers warn that waterborne diseases and other illnesses could raise the death toll from more than two weeks of flooding to well past the estimated 1,500 people who have perished so far.
The U.S. said Friday that it would give $3 million to help establish 15 treatment centers for waterborne illnesses in the aftermath of the floods, which are estimated to have directly or indirectly affected some 14 million people.
In the Multan area of Punjab province, medical workers have seen at least 1,000 children with illnesses such as gastroenteritis in the last three days, said Mumtaz Hussain, a doctor at the main government hospital.
"The situation is alarming as the diseases can infect other survivors," Hussain said. The hospital is treating victims at its main facility but also has set up 12 medical camps in the area.
The floods have been described as the worst natural disaster in independent Pakistan's 63-year history.
Up to a quarter of the country has been affected by the floods, though not all those areas were necessarily under water, U.N. spokesman Maurizio Giuliano said. The hardest-hit region has been the northwest, where farms and infrastructure were badly damaged.
The U.N. warns that the crisis was far from over, saying dams in southern Sindh province could still burst in the coming days as bloated rivers gush through. More rains are expected over the weekend, and monsoon season is forecast to last several more weeks.
U.N. officials have launched an immediate appeal for $460 million in aid for Pakistan. The U.S. has donated more than $70 million and has sent a ship and helicopters to assist relief efforts.
To help stop the spread of illness, the U.S. is distributing hand soap and has provided mobile water treatment units that can provide clean drinking water for 10,000 people a day, the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.
Aid workers warn that waterborne diseases and other illnesses could raise the death toll from more than two weeks of flooding to well past the estimated 1,500 people who have perished so far.
The U.S. said Friday that it would give $3 million to help establish 15 treatment centers for waterborne illnesses in the aftermath of the floods, which are estimated to have directly or indirectly affected some 14 million people.
In the Multan area of Punjab province, medical workers have seen at least 1,000 children with illnesses such as gastroenteritis in the last three days, said Mumtaz Hussain, a doctor at the main government hospital.
"The situation is alarming as the diseases can infect other survivors," Hussain said. The hospital is treating victims at its main facility but also has set up 12 medical camps in the area.
The floods have been described as the worst natural disaster in independent Pakistan's 63-year history.
Up to a quarter of the country has been affected by the floods, though not all those areas were necessarily under water, U.N. spokesman Maurizio Giuliano said. The hardest-hit region has been the northwest, where farms and infrastructure were badly damaged.
The U.N. warns that the crisis was far from over, saying dams in southern Sindh province could still burst in the coming days as bloated rivers gush through. More rains are expected over the weekend, and monsoon season is forecast to last several more weeks.
U.N. officials have launched an immediate appeal for $460 million in aid for Pakistan. The U.S. has donated more than $70 million and has sent a ship and helicopters to assist relief efforts.
To help stop the spread of illness, the U.S. is distributing hand soap and has provided mobile water treatment units that can provide clean drinking water for 10,000 people a day, the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.
What's behind the weather chaos?
(CNN) -- Is the record-shattering heatwave that has been blamed for the death of thousands in Russia somehow related to the devastating flooding in Pakistan?
Are these disasters happening more frequently -- and are they a result of global warming?
Sometimes these connections can clearly be observed and understood. At other times they are more complex, taking place across time scales much longer than we are able to observe.
Muscovites will long remember the summer of 2010 as the hottest and most extreme weather summer in the city's long history. The all-time temperature record was set, and re-set, five different times during a two-week span from late July to early August. In that period the temperature climbed above 30 degrees Celsius (87 degrees Fahrenheit) for 29 consecutive days (and still counting). In addition to the extreme heat, which reached up to 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) on multiple days in a city that averages an August high of 22 degrees Celsius (72 degrees Fahrenheit), the capital was shrouded in a thick layer of smoke from area wildfires.
The combination of extreme heat and lack of rainfall left western Russia vulnerable to wildfires, which burned out of control southeast of Moscow.
Nearly 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles) away in Pakistan, monsoon rains fell with an intensity that had never before been observed.
Peshawar, a city in northern Pakistan 140 km (87 miles) west of the capital Islamabad, received six times the monthly average rainfall in only 24 hours.
Heavy rain has continued to occur throughout Pakistan since the initial heavy downpour on July 29, and the flooding has impacted an estimated 14 million people, killing over 1,300 at time of writing.
Though these disasters are different and vary by great distances, they could have both been the result of a large area of high pressure centered over western Russia.
The high pressure, also known as a "blocking high," can influence weather patterns over great distances by altering the jet stream.
The jet stream is an area of fast-moving air that occurs high in the atmosphere, at an altitude roughly where commercial airliners cruise, and it acts like a highway for storms.
As the name suggests, a "blocking high" is exceptionally strong and blocks the jet stream, which forces the jet stream to move around it. These scenarios normally last for a couple of days, but can last for weeks, as we have seen in Russia.
Areas under the high pressure will see drought and heat, as seemingly endless days of sun bake the earth. As the jet stream is continually forced around the high pressure zone, flooding can result from areas that see storms continually move over the same areas.
We saw this in Central Europe last week, as storm systems that could not advance into Eastern Europe and Russia continued to rain over parts of Germany and Poland, causing flooding.
The area of high pressure that has been parked over western Russia for the last several weeks also forced part of the jet stream south to Pakistan, an area where it normally would not be found during mid-summer.
An interaction between the jet stream and the seasonal southwest monsoon currents over southeast Asia could have led to the intense bursts of rainfall experienced there.
So what caused this area of high pressure in western Russia to be so strong and last for so long?
As we continually stress, one extreme weather event, or even a series of weather events, is not caused by global warming or climate change. Weather extremes such as floods or heat waves happen every year, all over the globe.
Many climate scientists believe, however, that these events will become more common, as the Earth warms because of global warming. Others will point to more distinct and shorter-scale cycles such as El Nino and La Nina, which commonly lead to extremes in weather around the globe.
So, while we can tie many of these global weather disasters together around a common meteorological trigger, we cannot say for certain if climate change is helping to pull that trigger, or perhaps loading the gun more frequently.
One thing is for sure: as global weather disasters will continue to happen, and our knowledge and coverage of them continues to improve, we will continue to question if they are related, and what is really causing them.
Are these disasters happening more frequently -- and are they a result of global warming?
Sometimes these connections can clearly be observed and understood. At other times they are more complex, taking place across time scales much longer than we are able to observe.
Muscovites will long remember the summer of 2010 as the hottest and most extreme weather summer in the city's long history. The all-time temperature record was set, and re-set, five different times during a two-week span from late July to early August. In that period the temperature climbed above 30 degrees Celsius (87 degrees Fahrenheit) for 29 consecutive days (and still counting). In addition to the extreme heat, which reached up to 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) on multiple days in a city that averages an August high of 22 degrees Celsius (72 degrees Fahrenheit), the capital was shrouded in a thick layer of smoke from area wildfires.
The combination of extreme heat and lack of rainfall left western Russia vulnerable to wildfires, which burned out of control southeast of Moscow.
Nearly 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles) away in Pakistan, monsoon rains fell with an intensity that had never before been observed.
Peshawar, a city in northern Pakistan 140 km (87 miles) west of the capital Islamabad, received six times the monthly average rainfall in only 24 hours.
Heavy rain has continued to occur throughout Pakistan since the initial heavy downpour on July 29, and the flooding has impacted an estimated 14 million people, killing over 1,300 at time of writing.
Though these disasters are different and vary by great distances, they could have both been the result of a large area of high pressure centered over western Russia.
The high pressure, also known as a "blocking high," can influence weather patterns over great distances by altering the jet stream.
The jet stream is an area of fast-moving air that occurs high in the atmosphere, at an altitude roughly where commercial airliners cruise, and it acts like a highway for storms.
As the name suggests, a "blocking high" is exceptionally strong and blocks the jet stream, which forces the jet stream to move around it. These scenarios normally last for a couple of days, but can last for weeks, as we have seen in Russia.
Areas under the high pressure will see drought and heat, as seemingly endless days of sun bake the earth. As the jet stream is continually forced around the high pressure zone, flooding can result from areas that see storms continually move over the same areas.
We saw this in Central Europe last week, as storm systems that could not advance into Eastern Europe and Russia continued to rain over parts of Germany and Poland, causing flooding.
The area of high pressure that has been parked over western Russia for the last several weeks also forced part of the jet stream south to Pakistan, an area where it normally would not be found during mid-summer.
An interaction between the jet stream and the seasonal southwest monsoon currents over southeast Asia could have led to the intense bursts of rainfall experienced there.
So what caused this area of high pressure in western Russia to be so strong and last for so long?
As we continually stress, one extreme weather event, or even a series of weather events, is not caused by global warming or climate change. Weather extremes such as floods or heat waves happen every year, all over the globe.
Many climate scientists believe, however, that these events will become more common, as the Earth warms because of global warming. Others will point to more distinct and shorter-scale cycles such as El Nino and La Nina, which commonly lead to extremes in weather around the globe.
So, while we can tie many of these global weather disasters together around a common meteorological trigger, we cannot say for certain if climate change is helping to pull that trigger, or perhaps loading the gun more frequently.
One thing is for sure: as global weather disasters will continue to happen, and our knowledge and coverage of them continues to improve, we will continue to question if they are related, and what is really causing them.
Pakistan Flood Disaster Relief Video
A shipload of U.S. Marines and helicopters have arrived to boost relief efforts in flooded Pakistan.
The "USS Peleliu" arrived off the coast near Karachi along with helicopters and about 1,000 Marines. The United States has pledged $71 million in emergency assistance to Pakistan.
Meanwhile Pakistan's government has been sharply criticized at home for a slow response to the floods, which have killed 1,500 people and left an estimated 7 million people needing emergency assistance, their homes destroyed or damaged.
President Asif Ali Zardari made his first visit to victims of the disaster on August 12 and visited the flood-hit town of Sukkur.
Zardari came under fierce criticism for failing to cut short a visit to Europe last week in order to deal personally with what is now the country's worst humanitarian crisis.
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