By Junaid Khan
MINGORA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Landslides triggered by the worst floods in Pakistan in 80 years are hampering already troubled relief efforts, with aid workers using donkeys or travelling on foot to reach millions in desperate need of help.
Poor weather has made it difficult for helicopters to deliver food to some parts of the Swat Valley, northwest of the capital Islamabad and among the areas first hit by the deluge.
Many roads have been destroyed and landslides have added to the isolation of many areas.
The catastrophe, which has put unpopular President Asif Ali Zardari on the defensive and raised the profile of the military which is spearheading relief efforts, has killed more than 1,600 people and left two million homeless.
"It's hard to get supplies there. I would like to emphasise we are moving by foot or donkey. We are making all kinds of possible efforts. We are unable to get in to most places of Swat Valley," said Maurizio Giuliano, spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Zardari's decision to go ahead with official trips to Europe during the crisis has renewed criticism of his leadership. The military has taken the lead in relief efforts while the government is under fire for perceived dithering.
Analysts say there is no chance the military, which has vowed to stay out of politics and is preoccupied fighting militants, will try to seize power.
Ten days after the floods hit, Pakistanis are still stranded along a path of destruction more than 1,000 km (600 miles) long from the northwest to southern Sindh province.
In Punjab, army helicopters rescued people and their livestock from rooftops in Mehmood Kot village, a scene being played out in many parts of the country.
One family survived by placing planks on a huge date tree almost 25 feet (7.5 metres) above ground and staying there.
Some soldiers are getting frustrated by some Pakistani's reluctance to leave their homes.
"When we try to take them, they say they don't want to leave and instead they demand food. We have to fly again to bring food. This is a major problem for us," Lieutenant Colonel Salman Rafiq told Reuters.
U.S. officials, while declining to discuss this publicly, are also concerned about the damage caused by the weak government response floods and mounting hostility towards Zardari.
ISLAMISTS FILL THE AID VOID
Pakistan is a key U.S. ally whose help Washington needs to end a nine-year insurgency by Taliban militants in Afghanistan.
Charities with links to militants have taken advantage of the vacuum left by the government and delivered aid to thousands stranded by the floods, possibly boosting their own standing among Pakistanis as Taliban militants press on with their war.
U.S. concerns are also growing over the disaster's impact on Pakistan's fragile economy and how Washington's robust development plan may be slowed down to deal with the crisis.
Pakistan's troubled economy will need huge injections of foreign aid. Hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian relief will be needed over the next few months alone.
Pakistan turned to the International Monetary Fund in 2008 to avert a balance of payments crisis and has been struggling to meet the conditions of that $10.66 billion (6.68 billion pounds) emergency loan.
Pakistani stocks fell more than 2.6 percent in early trade as investors became cautious on realisation of the extend of the flood damage, dealers said.
The flooding, brought on by unusually heavy monsoon rains over the upper reaches of the Indus river basin, including eastern Afghanistan and northern India, has destroyed 360,000 houses, aid groups say.
An army spokesman in Swat said there had been landslides that blocked the main road leading to the valley. Relief efforts have resumed but helicopters are unable to reach areas due to rain.
"We are using 100 mules to transport relief to far-flung areas where helicopters could not fly because of bad weather," the army spokesman said.
Thousands evacuated the town of Shikarpur in Sindh after authorities issued new flood warnings, heading to roadsides with piles of beds, wooden trunks and other household goods.
"We haven't received any help from the government. We are helping ourselves," said Abdul Hakeem, one of the evacuees.
(Additional reporting by Zeeshan Haider, Adrees Latif and Faisal Aziz; Sue Pleming in WASHINGTON; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Robert Birsel and Miral Fahmy)
