Soldiers and aid workers struggled today to reach at least a million people cut off by landslides that have complicated relief efforts after the worst floods in Pakistan in 80 years.
Poor weather has grounded relief helicopters and more rain was expected to compound the misery of more than 13 million people - about 8 per cent of the population - whose lives have been disrupted by the floods, including two million homeless. The floods have killed more than 1,600 people.
In the Swat Valley, northwest of Islamabad, soldiers and aid workers are using mules or travelling on foot to reach people in desperate need of help.
The United States today announced an additional $20 million to help Pakistani flood victims today amid growing concern over the political, economic and security ramifications of the disaster.
The new aid brought to $55 million the amount of funds committed by Washington so far to flood relief efforts in Pakistan, along with US military helicopters that have been airlifting survivors trapped by the worst floods in 80 years.
The floods have affected more than 14 million, wiping out crops and livestock in areas that were among the most unstable in Pakistan to begin with.
Hundreds of roads and bridges have been destroyed and waters have not yet crested, meaning the situation could get worse in Pakistan, a US ally in fighting militants in neighbouring Afghanistan.
There is concern that Islamist charities with links to militant groups have been seeking to fill the gap left by what many see as an inadequate response by Pakistan's government, which has been overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster.
Pakistan, whose air force chief was in Washington yesterday, has appealed for more helicopters as well as other transport and rescue aircraft to deal with the crisis.
Adding to concerns, is frustration over how President Asif Ali Zardari has personally dealt with the floods, especially after he chose to continue a European trip despite the crisis.
The catastrophe has put the unpopular president on the defensive while raising the profile of the military which is spearheading relief efforts.rain over the upper reaches of the Indus river basin, have ploughed a swathe of destruction more than 1,000 kilometres long from northern Pakistan to the southern province of Sindh.
While the water has begun to recede in some parts of the north, water-logged mountainsides long stripped of forest cover have begun to slide in some areas, isolating communities.
"We have brought in 130 mules to take food supplies to the cut-off valleys," an army spokesman in Swat said, adding that bad weather had grounded helicopters for the past two days.
"About one million people are stranded because the main road link has been severed ... We believe that most stocks villagers had, have been exhausted and they need supplies."
Mr Zardari's decision to go ahead with official trips to Europe during the crisis has renewed criticism of his leadership. The military has taken the lead in relief efforts while the government is under fire for perceived dithering.
The president is expected back by mid-week. Analysts say there is no chance the military, which has vowed to stay out of politics and is preoccupied fighting militants, will try to seize power.
UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said in New York yesterday that he was "extremely concerned" about the humanitarian impact of the floods in Pakistan and would soon launch an emergency aid appeal for several hundred million dollars.
The United Nations said in terms of the number of people who have lost their homes or livelihoods, and will need short- or long-term help, the floods were worse than the 2004 tsunami, which killed 236,000 people around the Indian Ocean.
In Punjab province, army helicopters rescued people and their livestock from rooftops in Mehmood Kot village, a scene being played out in many parts of the country.
Some soldiers are getting frustrated by people's reluctance to leave their homes.
"When we try to take them, they say they don't want to leave and instead they demand food. We have to fly again to bring food. This is a major problem for us," Lieutenant Colonel Salman Rafiq said.
One woman gave birth to twin boys in her flooded house in the town of Sanawa. Neighbours carried the woman and her babies on a rope bed through the flood to a helicopter.
US officials are also concerned about the damage caused by the weak government response to the floods and mounting hostility toward Mr Zardari. Pakistan is a key US ally whose help Washington needs to end a nine-year insurgency by Taliban militants in Afghanistan.
Heavy rain has also hit India where military helicopters plucked about 150 foreign tourists to safety in the Himalayan region of Ladakh where flash floods have killed 156 people.
Charities with links to militants have taken advantage of the vacuum left by the Pakistani government and delivered aid to thousands, possibly boosting their standing among Pakistanis as Taliban militants press on with their war.
US concerns are also growing over the disaster's impact on Pakistan's fragile economy and how Washington's robust development plan may be slowed down to deal with the crisis.
Pakistan's economy will need huge injections of foreign aid. It turned to the International Monetary Fund in 2008 to avert a balance of payments crisis and has been struggling to meet the conditions of that $10.66 billion emergency loan.
In the southern province of Sindh, which has yet to see the full force of the deluge flowing south to the sea, up to one million people have been evacuated from low-lying areas.
Reuters