US Announces Plans To Pull Forces Out In Spring

The UN says it may have to curtail helicopter-based relief efforts in earthquake-ravaged Pakistan. The reason? Lack of money, according to world body officials quoted by local reporters in Pakistan.

One senior UN official is quoted as saying the relief effort -- which depends almost solely on helicopters because of terrain and a lack of serviceable roads -- may have to start cutting back by the end of the week.

It's not that money isn't flowing into the relief effort; it's that it's not coming fast enough. Right now, that senior official says the aid flights are 68-percent funded for the rest of the year. But, he says, another $69 million is needed to avoid cutbacks.

In related news, the US military announced Monday its earthquake relief efforts in Pakistan are slated to end this spring.

"I suspect that towards the end of March or the beginning of April -- somewhere in that timeframe or so -- we will have transitioned all of our personnel from Pakistan," DoD spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters at the Pentagon.

Whitman said US Central Command has led a 63-nation relief effort in Pakistan since October 10, 2005, which includes food, medical care, transportation and other types of post-disaster support.

More than 1,200 US military members and 25 helicopters had been deployed to Pakistan at the peak of the relief mission. Today, about 650 US service members continue to provide aviation, medical and engineering assistance in earthquake-affected areas, he said, flying 12 CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopters -- manpower and equipment, Whitman said, that is now needed elsewhere

To compensate, the US is donating about $6 million worth of medical, engineering and refueling equipment to the Pakistani government, Whitman said.

Still, the news doesn't bode well for the UN, which is asking the US for more helicopters -- bringing the total of helicopters in the region to 26 from the current 20.

Helicopter operations in Kashmir Province -- hardest hit by the quake last year -- cost about a half-million dollars a day. So far, helos have airlifted more than 13,000 tons of food, 3,000 tons of non-food aid, and almost 28,000 passengers.

FMI: www.centcom.mil