Richard C. Holbrooke Interview
Interviewee:
Interviewer:
Deadly floods in
Q. What has been the U.S. response to the
A. We leapt into the effort as soon as it occurred and led the international response.
Q. How many more helicopters is
A. I'm not able to give you the exact number, because that is a decision of the commanders on the ground. But it is a substantial number. It's still raining in much of the country. Helicopters are having trouble getting in and out.
Q. What should
A. The American people should recognize that this situation is affecting, already, over fourteen million people. Although the deaths are far less than they were in the (2004
Q. What are your biggest fears regarding this crisis, especially the kind of setbacks
A. It looks like most of the crop has been wiped out. That will have a tremendously negative effect on the Pakistani economy, which was already under immense pressure. Many bridges, perhaps a hundred, have been washed out; dams and barrages are in danger of breaking, which would be an even more serious problem; and there's an immense need for immediate relief followed by a huge reconstruction requirement. The greatest fear of the experts is that diseases will break out in refugee camps -- bad water, cholera, typhoid -- and we need to work hard on that so medicine is critically needed. Nobody knows the full extent (of damage) yet, but we do know that it is the worst flood in
Q. There have been numerous reports that Islamic charities with links to militant groups are gaining support as they step up their aid efforts, especially in areas that government hasn't been able to reach. How could this affect the fight against extremism in the country?
A. I read those news reports. I've no way of independently confirming it; no journalists have been able to get into those areas. The people I've talked to question the accuracy of those reports. I don't think we should even worry about those right now. We should just worry about relief and getting assistance to the people.
Q. During the 2005 earthquake, and last year in the camps for people displaced from the
A. I'm not in any position to assess whether what you said is actually true and across the board, but to the extent it's true, it's a matter of great concern. But right now, we have an emergency situation affecting at least fourteen million people and first we're going to deal with that. The more we deal with that, the more it is an answer to the very statement you just made.
Q. As a result of this crisis, is
A. I see no reason to reassess our support of
Q. Are the priorities in
A. Why should the priorities change as a result of the floods? We've got our priorities clearly established in deep consultations with the Pakistanis over the last year; we had a dramatic change in priorities. We inherited a situation where U.S. aid was military and there was almost no civilian aid. We now have
Q. How do you plan to ensure that aid disbursement will be effective, given concerns that the Pakistani government and institutions have not proved that efficient in the past?
A. There are a large number of aid organizations people can contribute to. For a list of the organizations your readers and viewers should visit interaction.org. For information on donations, they can visit cidi.org and USAID.gov/pakistanflooding.
Finally, and most importantly, there is a way that individual Americans can open their hearts and contribute
Q. The enormous scale of floods would have been a challenge for any government. However, the government in
A.
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