Pakistan is experiencing epic flooding as a result of monsoon rains. How bad is it? U.S. Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke puts it this way:
“Floods in Asia” is such a recurrent headline that many people outside Pakistan still do not realize that this is an epic event–the worst monsoon floods in the history of the 63-year old nation, in fact the worst floods in the area since 1926. The statistics are overwhelming. At least 14 million people have been affected–more than Haiti and the tsunami combined (although deaths are, mercifully, fewer in numbers, so far). Hundreds of bridges, an unknown amount of roads, homes, schools and health clinics, have been destroyed. In one area, over 700,000 people have been evacuated. A major dam in a densely populated area is in a precarious state, and millions lie in its path. The already-over-burdened electrical grid is in danger of further weakening. The relief and reconstruction costs will be enormous. The region affected by this catastrophe includes the tribal areas where Taliban and Al Qaeda have been operating; some reports suggest that they are trying to exploit the tragedy for their own purposes. We must not allow this to happen, as it would add to the dangers facing our troops in Afghanistan.
The U.S. is responding to this crisis by rushing aid to the stricken region. The U.S. military is providing food and other relief supplies in an effort to address the humanitarian crisis as well as undermine chances that the Taliban and Al Qaeda have for taking advantage of the situation. This report in The New York Times notes the multiple goals of the U.S. aid effort:
As the Obama administration continues to add to the aid package for flood-stricken Pakistan — already the largest humanitarian response from any single country — officials acknowledge that they are seeking to use the efforts to burnish the United States’ dismal image there. Administration officials say their top priority is providing much-needed help to a pivotal regional ally in the fight against Al Qaeda. But when senior officials from the White House, State Department, Pentagon and Agency for International Development hold their daily conference calls to coordinate American assistance, they are also strategizing about how that aid could help improve long-term relations with Pakistan […] American aircraft have rescued more than 4,000 people since Aug. 5. The Pentagon announced Friday that ships carrying more relief supplies and helicopters had left the East Coast and would arrive in the waters off Pakistan in late September.
Whether American aid is able to change perceptions of the U.S. in Pakistan is yet to be seen, though it’s clear that for now, helping an ally in distress is the right thing to do and a fine an example of the U.S. role in the world.
Let me leave you with this video from MSNBC that shows the scale of the disaster:
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