Washington – Eager to show it has learned from the slow responses to the Asia-Pacific tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, the White House announced Sunday evening it would provide an “initial contribution” of $50 million for relief efforts in Pakistan. It also said it would dispatch eight helicopters and reconnaissance aircraft that are in the area hunting members of al-Qaeda.
The announcement came only hours after President Bush spoke to Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf, and after he held an unusual Sunday-afternoon meeting in the Oval Office with a Pakistani diplomat. The speed, a senior administration official said, reflected both the estimates of the death toll and the American sensitivity to the desire to bolster Musharraf when his help is badly needed in hunting down Osama bin Laden and repressing Islamic radicals.
“I was just told that this is going to be the worst natural disaster in the nation’s history,” Bush said after meeting with Mohammad Sadiq, the No. 2 diplomat in the Pakistani embassy. “Thousands of people have died, thousands are wounded, and the United States of America wants to help.”
The response was much quicker than in December, when Bush was at his ranch when the tsunami hit and did not speak publicly about the disaster for several days. The initial American commitments of aid were small, though they were quickly ramped up.
The administration has also been assailed for its slow response to Hurricane Katrina. An administration official involved in the discussions on Sunday about putting together a package of cash and help from the military said that “it was very much on our minds” that a speedy response was important in the Pakistani crisis.
American officials have struggled for four years now to find ways to demonstrate American support for Pakistan in ways that would support Musharraf, who has been the target of at least two assassination attempts.
Bush also has asked Musharraf for more help in chasing down al-Qaeda operatives in the border areas with Afghanistan – areas hit hard by the earthquake.
But it is unclear how much command Musharraf has over the pursuit of Islamic radicals in his own military and intelligence agencies. In polls, Osama bin Laden remains popular in parts of the country.