THIS IS Pakistan’s Katrina. I just returned from that country, where the devastation created by the recent floods was gut-wrenching. Five years after floods washed over the southern United States, Pakistan is suffering from an epic disaster. And we turn away from Pakistan in its hour of need at our own peril.

It's not just that one-fifth of the country — an area about the size of New England — is submerged. Nor is it that, with weeks left in the monsoon season, it could get worse. More than 1,600 people have been killed, 6 million are homeless, and more than 17 million have been affected in some way.