SHAIKH SHAHZAD CAMP, Pakistan — Top U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke brought promises of more American aid Thursday to sweltering camps where some of the 3 million refugees uprooted by Pakistan’s offensive against the Taliban have fled.
In conversations in tents and under thatch-roofed buildings, Holbrooke told refugees the U.S. government has asked Congress to approve another $200 million in humanitarian aid for them, on top of $110 million already promised.
The U.S. special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan also stressed that Washington’s role in the crisis was to help the refugees, not the military — a message aimed at quelling deep suspicions in Pakistan that the Swat Valley campaign was launched at Washington’s behest.
The U.S. strongly supports Pakistan’s month-old offensive to rout the Taliban from the Swat Valley region and sees it as a test of the government’s resolve in taking on militants elsewhere in the Afghan border region.
But that commitment could erode if the public mood turns against the government. Already unpopular, the Pakistani government’s fortunes could dwindle further if the military is blamed for unnecessary deaths or if the resettlement of refugees is handled badly.
by the associated press
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