The US military is sending a team to Pakistan to figure out what support the Pentagon could provide amid deadly floods that have covered more than one-third of the country, the Defense Department announced Friday.
U.S. Central Command will send the team to Islamabad to determine how the Pentagon can help the U.S. Agency for International Development as part of Washington’s response to the crisis, the command’s top spokesperson, Col. Joe Buccino, said in a statement.
Gen. Michael Kurilla, the head of CENTCOM, also spoke by phone with Pakistan’s chief of army staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, to express “his condolences for the people of Pakistan,” the statement added.
The floods are being blamed on a heavier than normal monsoon season, the wettest since Pakistan began keeping records in 1961, CNN reported.
Meanwhile, US Congresswoman Sheila Jackson and Congressman Tom Swazi were leaving for Pakistan Saturday to assess the damage caused by the recent floods.
This was announced by Sheila Jackson while holding a press conference in the US Congress along with a Pakistani-origin Democrat leader Tahir Javed. Sheila Jackson will meet Pakistan’s political leadership and key government officials during her visit.
