Much more help needed in Pakistan

When the tsunami swallowed huge swaths of Asia earlier this year, the United Nations appealed for $1 billion in emergency aid. The appeal reached 80 percent of its goal in 10 days. Governments, and ordinary citizens all around the world, dug deep to help.

But by the time a massive earthquake devastated remote Himalayan region of Pakistan on Oct. 8 and killed at least 73,000 people the world was reeling from donor fatigue. The Niger famine, the genocide in Darfur and a succession of devastating hurricanes in the southern United States – all that giving had emptied peoples’ wallets.

So the U.N. appeal for $550 million in emergency aid for Pakistan has netted only $131 million in pledges and commitments, even though the quake affected 3 million people and destroyed thousands of villages. Many governments, including Arab Gulf countries, are committing substantial sums for long-term reconstruction.

But in the words of U.N.’s humanitarian relief coordinator Jan Egeland, “it’s no good to pledge money for reconstruction if people die before you reconstruct.”

Snow will start falling in the Himalayas in the next three to five weeks, and shelter must be found for the quake victims before then. “We can see a second crisis coming,” says William Dowell of CARE International, who spoke to me by phone just after returning from Pakistan’s remote Alli Valley. “Winter is on the way, with the danger that people will freeze to death.”

What makes the Pakistani crisis especially difficult is its location, so hard to reach it hasn’t attracted the saturation TV coverage of the tsunami or the recent hurricanes. This lack of visibility has undercut the level of aid donations.

Yet even limited footage has shown harrowing scenes of villagers trekking thousands of feet down perilous mountain paths carrying wounded relatives and returning with food and materiel for shelter. Once the snow starts, those paths will be blocked.

The United States has so far pledged $156 million. Much of that money is being used outside the U.N. framework, including $56 million of Defense Department funds for transport planes to deliver aid, and for helicopters.

In the Himalayan terrain helicopters are essential for aid drops and rescue. Outside of the Pakistani army, the United States is best positioned to send in choppers. Twenty-four U.S. military helicopters, along with seven others on loan to Pakistan for narcotics interception, have delivered 1,700 tons of relief supplies and evacuated about 7,500 people. Nine more U.S. military choppers will probably arrive from Afghanistan soon.

There could not be a better use for American military and aid funds. In fact, the amount spent should be sharply increased before the onset of winter.

The reason is not just humanitarian – which is reason enough – but strategic. The area where the earthquake struck – mainly in Pakistan’s Northwest territories and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir – is a religiously conservative region with an ingrained suspicion of the West. People here were sympathetic to the Taliban.

The region has a history of hosting Islamic extremist groups, some with links to al-Qaida. These groups also operate charities and rushed to deliver essential aid after the earthquake, thus earning gratitude from the locals.

Yet Western media report that U.S. aid is also making a positive impression. This is the first time these remote villagers have met Western aid workers and U.S. soldiers in person – and watched them work to save Pakistani lives.

“The United States has had a better profile in Pakistan in the last few weeks than in the last 15 years,” says Najam Sethi, editor of the Pakistani newspaper the Friday Times. “The 24 U.S. helicopters are very visible.” Sethi told me by phone from Lahore that Pakistani TV is covering the U.S. aid effort and “the scenes come into every (Pakistani) home. This is having an enormous impact in diluting anti-Western sentiment.”

Much more U.S. and other international aid is badly needed. An additional $200 million and a few helicopters could do far more to improve Muslim attitudes toward America and undercut al-Qaida appeal than all the White House’s public relations campaigns in the Muslim world. It would be a pittance next to the $200 billion spent on Iraq (and the $200 billion cost of rebuilding post-Katrina).

And more individual contributions for Pakistan will help counter Islamist charges of Western hostility. This is a case where doing good will not only save lives but earn us good will.