The US has sought an extra aid of $200 million to help the displaced civilians in the Swat region of Pakistan. This is in addition to $110 million that has been already sanctioned. Pakistan army has been doing offensive operations against Taliban for over a month now.

The $200 million aid was confirmed by Richard Holbrooke, the special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan. The aid is as per the instruction of the President Barack Obama.

Holbrooke, on a three-day study tour, said that President Obama had sent the team to show concern to the people of Pakistan, among many other things. He met Pakistan President, Asif Ali Zardari, upon arrival on Wednesday evening. Holbrooke and his team will examine the needs of the displaced people of North West region of the country.

The US envoy consists of officials from the state and the defence departments and USAID. He would also be meeting Prime Minster, Yousuf Raza Gilani and some of the refugees to assess their needs.

Holbrooke said that the US had promised to sanction the supply of four helicopters to help Pakistan in its offensive attacks against Taliban in the northwest region.

The offensive began late April after Taliban revoked peace deal and occupied Buner, which is 100 km from Islamabad. According to the peace deal, Taliban had to lay down the arms in exchange for Sharia laws in Swat.

The social welfare camps of northwest region have registered about 1.4 million refugees, but the UN estimates the number of refugees could be around 3 million. The UN feels about $543 million would be required to rehabilitate the refugees.