Economy & aidA new agenda
A third of Pakistan under water: the 2022 floods
Record monsoon floods affected 33 million people. The United States airlifted supplies, pledged growing sums in relief and made climate resilience a pillar of the post-Afghanistan relationship.
2 min read
Background
From June to October 2022, extreme monsoon rains - linked by many scientists to climate change - flooded large parts of Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority reported more than 1,700 deaths; some 33 million people were affected and about a third of the country was at one point under water1. A Post-Disaster Needs Assessment by the Pakistani government with the World Bank, UN, EU and Asian Development Bank estimated damages of about $14.9 billion and economic losses of about $15.2 billion - nearly $30 billion in total - with reconstruction needs of at least $16.3 billion1.
What happened
The United States announced emergency funding from late August and expanded it repeatedly. Between 8 and 16 September 2022 US Air Forces Central flew C-17 and C-130 relief flights from Qatar and Kuwait, delivering more than 1.5 million pounds of supplies to three locations in Pakistan in support of USAID2. On 26 September, at a meeting in Washington that also marked the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a further $10 million in food security assistance, bringing the total then announced to more than $66 million; Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari called for the world to help Pakistan build back greener3,4. Blinken also urged Pakistan to seek debt relief from China7. By 2023 the US described its flood-related humanitarian and development assistance as exceeding $200 million5.
A climate partnership
Pakistan's leaders presented the floods as a case of climate injustice: the country produces less than 1 per cent of global emissions. Washington responded by building a climate strand into the relationship. Through the US–Pakistan "Green Alliance" framework, launched at the Climate and Environment Working Group, the two governments set priorities in agriculture, water and clean energy; projects included the multi-year "Recharge Pakistan" water-resilience programme with the Green Climate Fund and other partners6.
Why it mattered
The floods gave the post-2021 relationship a new, non-security focus and coincided with a deliberate effort by both governments to mark 75 years of ties with a broader agenda. The scale of the need, however, far exceeded what the United States or other donors provided.
Sources
- Pakistan Floods 2022: Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (main report), Government of Pakistan, ADB, EU, UNDP and World Bank (UNDP-hosted PDF), October 2022 · Official
- AFCENT concludes support to USAID Pakistan mission, US Central Command, 16 September 2022 · Official
- Foreign Minister meets U.S. Secretary of State in Washington D.C.; U.S. announces $10 million for Pakistan’s flood relief efforts, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan, 26 September 2022 · Official
- US announces another $10 million for flood relief as Pakistan seeks ‘climate justice’, Arab News, 26 September 2022 · Press
- Resilience of communities: US announces $16.4m additional assistance, Business Recorder, 2023 · Press
- Issue Brief on “US-Pakistan Green Alliance: Advancing Bilateral Cooperation on Sustainable Development”, Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, April 2023 · Scholarly
- Blinken urges Pakistan to seek China debt relief, Dhaka Tribune (AFP), 26 September 2022 · Press
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