The Obama administration is seeking $200 million in emergency aid for Pakistani refugees who have fled the Swat Valley region during a military campaign to oust Pakistani Taliban. In the areas cleared of the Taliban by the Pakistani military; shortages of power, water, food and medical supplies have raised the concern of the U.S. government, which earlier pledged an additional $130 million in humanitarian aid in the past month.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has stated that its $543 million plan to provide food aid alone has only received 22% of that amount, so far, and that a dire situation for Swat Valley refugees will emerge very quickly. U.S. Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, has called upon European and Muslim nations to increase their contributions, and prepare to fund a reconstruction of the Swat Valley to prevent a reemergence of the Taliban once the military campaign concludes.
