US help warms hearts of Pakistan community

[Turborama]

Source: BBC

By Haroon Rashid -
BBC News, Pakistan -

In the picturesque mountains of Pakistan's north-west, the US response to the devastating floods has helped to change the perceptions of a community towards the Americans.

About 70,000 people in Pakistan's Kalam valley were cut off after road links were swept away by flood waters three weeks ago.

Multi-story hotels that were perched on the river banks along the picturesque valley are no longer there. The people are without electricity and telephone lines.

People in the area had already suffered two years of militancy by the Taliban, who pushed an anti-US agenda until they were largely defeated last year.

But amid the despair, there are good things happening.

US forces have been the main providers of aid for the community...

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11040132

---

The US says it has evacuated more than
3,500 from Kalam


Locals did not wait for government help to
begin rebuilding


Bridges and hotels were wrecked by the
devastating floods

[karynnj]

1. Nice article - interesting that is is from the BBC, not an American source

[OhioChick]

2. This is good to hear....

Thanks for posting.

[NBachers]

3. Good article- Hmmmm let's see- what's the lesson here . . .

[lobodons]

4. NO AID FOR PAKISTAN!!

They may build an Islamic recreation center with it.

[Jeneral2885]

5. build

Then there should be no aid to people whne they are flooded in western countries; they may build chrches with it.

[Javaman]

7. You may want to include the sarcasm thing next time. nt

[groundloop]

6. So.... why haven't I seen this on CNN yet?

And I'm positive Fox will carry this story.

Damned main stream media, just won't cover anything good that we're doing.

[Turborama]

10. I'm continuously amazed how little effort is made to do any actual reporting from that region

And when they do it's all about the bad news (which, of course and unfortunately, there is a lot of), but there's never a peep about any good news.

See here for some details on reconstruction projects (which are admittedly hard to come by, for some strange reason): http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8922280&mesg_id=8931457

Also, more than 6,000,000 kids (boys and girls) go to school now compared to under 1,000,000 boys up to the invasion:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8922280&mesg_id=8931457

Original link: http://www.ungei.org/news/afghanistan_2343.html

BTW With regards to the latest floods in Afghanistan:

The only thing I could find in mainstream media is a video sneaked out to the European Press, but there's no article...

US troops rescue flood victims in Afghanistan

Search and rescue efforts continue in Afghanistan as flood waters damage farm land and swell rivers in the region. U.S. troops conducted helicopter missions to search for stranded people, 11 miles from Jalalabad near the Pakistani border.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xe9jqd_us-troops-recue-flood-victims-in-af_news

[sabrina 1]

8. That is a nice story, and far better strategy for

ensuring everyone's security than droppoing bombs on people.

:kick: & R

[golfguru]

9. American Foreign Aid has been active since 1947

to Pakistan. Their hearts should be near boiling point by now.