No evidence that Pak floods benefited Taliban: Holbrooke

PARIS - US Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, has said that he had seen no evidence that the floods in Pakistan have benefited the Taliban.

Holbrooke made these remarks while talking about Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden’s humanitarian appeal in an audiotape, urging Muslim governments to help Pakistan’s flood victims, the Daily Times reported.

“What I see is that the flood was an equal opportunity flood: It hit everybody and a lot of the Taliban were dislocated, their communications were disrupted…” he said.

Everybody knows that Laden does not care about people in flooded areas, as he has a different set of goals, the envoy added.

Holbrooke denied any link between his efforts for Pakistan and the US fight to stamp out the Taliban and Al Qaeda extremists in northwestern tribal regions, saying that the US was helping Pakistan to cope with the floods for humanitarian reasons, not for strategic or political ends.

He also defended the US travel warning saying that they were telling public the truth, stressing that they did not ask people to cancel their travel plans, instead they told them to be more alert.e added that the September 11, 2001 attacks would not have happened if Americans had been warned to be on the lookout for terrorism beforehand.

A copy of the 13-minute, nine-second audiotape of Laden was made available by the US-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors terror forums. However, the tape’s authenticity could not be independently confirmed. (ANI)