Pakistan on the Brink
For nearly two months, Pakistan has grappled with a calamitous flood and its aftermath. The waters inundated perhaps as much as one-fifth of the countryside, displacing hundreds of thousands of people while affecting more than 17 million and, in the words of the New York Times, potentially carrying “the seeds of upheaval.” The stakes are staggering. According to the Washington Post, flooding destroyed 1.2 million houses, 10,000 schools, 35 bridges, and 9% of the national highway system, while swamping 20 percent of Pakistan’s farmland.
There are now some warning of a possible coup brought on by the civilian government’s ineffective response to the crisis.
We can’t say that any individual weather event is the result of climate change, but the rain and floods that have brought Pakistan to the brink certainly fit the patterns forewarned by climate scientists.
With certainty, we can say that Pakistan is a warning to us all. For the last two years we have spoken to audiences and warned of the potential for climate change to present specific national security threats to the United States. Some have responded skeptically. But Pakistan shows us that extremes in weather–and the suffering they bring–do pose challenges to weak and failing governments around the world. In Pakistan, they may end its latest experiment with constitutional democracy. No one can seriously argue that that doesn’t have national security implications for the United States.
