First, the country of 180 million was rocked by the flood of thousands of Wikileaks that gave credence to claims that Pakistan not only is funding and arming the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, but also is playing an operational role by directing specific attacks against the U.S. and NATO forces. Then, in quick succession, Pakistan was hit by the worst floods in the country's 63-year history, drowning thousands and stranding almost 3 million of its 180 million people without shelter or food.
Death, destruction, devastation and despair were beyond description, reported United Press International's South Asian consultant Ammar Turabi. It was the apocalypse. He saw tens of thousands trapped by the floodwaters as he made his way through the Swat Valley from the city of Mingora to the Kalam region and Charsadda district. Desperate people, weeping as they waded through mud looking for relatives, watched helpless as others were swept away by walls of fast-moving water. Seventy percent of the livestock perished.
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