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Pakistani floods could further hurt unstable nation as military focuses on aid
Pakistan
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"The government is face to face with massive problems from the flood. There are millions of displaced people. If they go for the operation in North Waziristan, there would be many more," said M. Kamran Khan, a member of Parliament representing North Waziristan. "It's not possible for the government to take care of more people."
Even before the floods hit, Pakistan had been reluctant to move into North Waziristan, despite months of intense U.S. pressure. Whereas South Waziristan was home to the Pakistani Taliban, militant groups in the north -- including al-Qaeda and the Haqqani faction of the Taliban -- have generally been friendlier toward the Pakistani government and have focused their attacks across the border in Afghanistan.
Abbas, the military spokesman, said the United States has stopped pressuring Pakistan to go into North Waziristan, recognizing that such a move could backfire if undertaken when the army is overstretched.
"They have a better understanding now of our concerns and our constraints," he said. "For the near future, there's too much on our plate. We're totally involved in responding to this disaster."
'A lot of breathing space'
Gains made in South Waziristan have also been put in jeopardy by the floods. The army declared victory there late last year after weeks of battling insurgents, but residents have yet to return, and the army says plans to escort them back have been delayed.
Out of Pakistan's 500,000-member army, about 60,000 troops are involved in flood-related rescue and relief work. So far, those troops have been called up from the reserves or from training and have not been pulled from active military operations. But with the flood response taking up critical resources, including helicopters, the army is clearly constrained.
"There is now a lot of breathing space for the Pakistani Taliban and their allies in the tribal areas," said Hasan-Askari Rizvi, a political and defense analyst. "They know they will soon be able to cash in on the ammunition that develops as the people are alienated from the government."
That alienation is already apparent. The government says it is doing everything it can to provide flood victims with food, water and shelter, but it admits it does not have nearly enough resources to help the estimated 20 million people affected.
In recent days, Pakistanis rendered homeless by the floods in the southern province of Sindh have taken to the highway in protest, blocking traffic and setting fires. Across the country, fights have broken out among increasingly desperate aid recipients as they compete for every sack of flour and bottle of water.
The United Nations said Tuesday that money and provisions are in short supply and that only about a third of the $459 million in emergency funds it asked for last week had arrived.
The World Bank redirected $900 million worth of previously committed loans Tuesday to flood recovery, but aid groups continued to plead for money that can be used immediately to help those at risk.
The United States has provided $87 million in flood assistance, more than any other country. Meanwhile, even stalwart allies of Pakistan, such as China and Saudi Arabia, have been slow to provide money.
"We have a country which has endemic watery diarrhea, endemic cholera, endemic upper respiratory infections," Daniel Toole, UNICEF's regional director for South Asia, said Tuesday at a news conference in Islamabad. "We have the conditions for much, much expanded problems."