Pakistan's floods: broader implications

The unusually severe monsoon rains which arrived in Pakistan on 22 July have added a humanitarian crisis to the security, political and economic challenges with which the country was already grappling. As the flood waters have receded, they have left behind devastation of lives, property and infrastructure. And they have also exposed with yet greater clarity Pakistan's political and institutional shortcomings. The effects and implications will extend beyond the 12% of the Pakistani population who have been directly affected by the floods and will impinge upon the policy objectives of the US-led coalition engaged in Afghanistan.