Embassy of the United States

press releases

TRANSCRIPT: Press Conference with Commander, U.S. Central Command, General John Abizaid and Chairman, Prime Minister’s Federal Relief Commission, Pakistan Major General Farooq Ahmed Khan

Chaklala Air Base

(begin transcript)

General Farooq: Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce General Abizaid, Commander-in-Chief CENTCOM. This occasion is a tragic occasion. We have lost scores of people. As of today, the death toll stands over 53,000. The seriously injured stands over 75,000. 25,000 square kilometer of an area is devastated land. All communication infrastructures, and most of the habitations are down in rubbles. The nation is fighting back. We are proud of the nation, which responded to the call, as well as the international community, which indeed stood by us. A great many nations have helped, and are still helping us, in fighting this devastation, bringing peace and solace to the bereaved ones. And amongst them, the United States of America stands one of the tallest. General Abizaid found time out of his very busy schedule to share the grief with us. Today he went over almost two-thirds of the area, and saw the devastation in Azad Kashmir. And also, he went to distant mountainous sites. I would like to request him to come and give us his impressions, and thereafter you will be allowed to ask your questions. General Abizaid, sir.

General Abizaid: Well thank you General Farooq, ladies and gentlemen thank you for the opportunity to say a few words. General Eikenberry and I had the opportunity to fly with General Hayat over the devastated area, and I must say that the scope of the devastation is quite significant. The challenges that are facing any group of people that have to deal with this level of destruction -- the destruction of the lines of communication, the loss of life, the level of rebuilding that has to be done are really quite significant. And so, it's very clear to me that not only the United States, but the international community needs to continue to help Pakistan in this hour of need. We certainly extend our condolences to all the victims of the earthquake. But as General Farooq pointed out to me, there's still a need for immediate help, especially as the army gains greater and greater knowledge of the area of devastation and they push deeper and deeper. There are areas where there's a lot of need and they're cut off. Certainly the United States will continue to bring in additional helicopter support, medical support, and engineering support.

I was in Afghanistan earlier today where I saw 11 of our Chinook helicopters being assembled that had just arrived from the United States in heavy lift aircraft. And those helicopters will start arriving in the next day or two, and indeed I think a couple of them already arrived. We are very grateful for the opportunity to work with the Pakistani armed forces. I think the work that they have done is quite professional, but the task ahead for all of us, and we are in support, is an immense task, and there's a lot of work to do. I think we're happy to take any questions.

Question: My question is that Pakistan nation has become the frontline state of your war against terrorism. Can the Pakistan nation expect from United States of America to stand by her through the reconstruction work, if goes to 5 years or 10 years?

General Abizaid: Well look, this is all about helping our friends. Sir, I think I understood the question, is there a long-term commitment to help from the United States of America? The answer is yes, there is. Look, we are not against the people in this region. We are for the people in this region. We are for the moderate people in this region. We are for the good people in this region. And once something happens bad, we want to marshal our resources to help. We were here as quickly as we could be, and we will stay as long as we need to in order to help. I think that it's clear that there's a lot more that has to be done.

Question: First of all we appreciate your (inaudible) working shoulder to shoulder with us. Sir what do you think, how many helicopters does Pakistan need immediately? And how many helicopters are you sending? You have gotten the whole areas, what is your personal opinion?

General Farooq: This assessment requirement is ours. As many as possible, but the United States is sending 25 heavy-lift helicopters, apart from what already they have given us. These helicopters are likely to arrive very soon.

Question: General what else you do you need to do for Pakistan because you have seen the area yourself and the extent of devastation? What are the priority needs?

General Abizaid: Of course as I have tried to make clear, we take our priorities from the priorities established by the good work of the Pakistani army. We understand helicopter support absolutely, positively, needs to continue to flow and we will continue to flow it. The helicopters that are being built now in Bagram airfield in Afghanistan will come over here immediately and we will bring up the total number of U.S. heavy-lift helicopters to around 30 or so. That’s a pretty substantial effort.

Medical support is coming. General Farooq asked to help with some additional airlift of key items, such as tentage, which obviously needs to be brought in to help people in the time between now and the onset of winter. We are also bringing in engineer support, and the engineer support is on the way up to the north now. Anything, sir?

General Farooq: As regard priorities, the priorities are very clear. We need shelter, waterproof tents. We need blankets, because there are so many people who are stuck up in the high mountains. To lift all of that, we also need heavy-lift helicopters. The question is we are running . . . now there is time. There are three to four weeks of window available to us and I am sure the international community is going to muster all that they have and provide all the assistance which is required within this short time frame so that we are able to provide shelter to the people in time.

Also, considerable amount of medical assistance will be required. 70% of casualties are orthopedic types so we need to push a few hospitals up forward so that such patients can be treated urgently. Yes, you had a question.

Question: You said the United States offered more assistance but President Musharraf and the United Nations both have said that the international response to this earthquake appeal has not been adequate. What role should the U.S. play to make sure that their response is adequate?

General Abizaid: I think the most important thing we can do is by our own positive example show the rest of the world that there is a lot more work that needs to be done, and there is a lot more work that needs to be done. There are a lot of people who need a lot of help. The international community providing the equipment that needs to come here, the international community helping where they can -- it is not something that can just be forgotten. It cannot be the five second-sound byte that we are all so used to. It has to be a long-term effort to help a lot of people in need and you will certainly see us leading the way to the extent that we can.

Question: How many units, army personnel are there? How long are they going to stay in Pakistan?

General Farooq: It is not being counted, it is just the requirement, and whatever requirement was given to them, they were very generous in meeting that. So as more assistance is required I am sure they will stand by us. Last question please.

Question: General, the US has garnered a lot of favor in the Islamic world with the response to this earthquake tragedy here. Do you fear that these images that we have seen from Afghanistan in recent days of US soldiers burning the Taliban bodies might jeopardize some of that?

General Abizaid: It’s a fair question. I can tell you that the response of the United States of America to this tragedy is really the face of the United States of America that everybody should pay attention to. Mistakes always happen on every battlefield. But this is no mistake. We are here to help and we are here to help not because of the war but because people need help.

General Farooq: Thank you very much.

(end transcript)