Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi presented the U.N.'s members with a stark challenge: Help Pakistan recover from its most devastating natural disaster in modern history or run the risk of surrendering a key front in the war on terror.

"This disaster has hit us hard at a time, and in areas, where we are in the midst of fighting a war against extremists and terrorists," Qureshi warned foreign delegates, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, at a U.N. donor's conference on the Pakistani flood. "If we fail, it could undermine the hard won gains made by the government in our difficult and painful war against terrorism. We cannot allow this catastrophe to become an opportunity for the terrorists."

Qureshi provided one of his darkest assessments to date of the political, economic and security  costs of Pakistan's floods, which have placed more than 20 million people in need of assistance, destroyed more than 900,000 homes and created financial losses of over $43 billion. "We are the people that the international community looks towards, as a bulwark against terrorism and extremism," he said, adding that Pakistan "now looks towards the international community to show a similar determination and humanity in our hour of need."

The blunt speech was part of a broader effort by Pakistan, the United Nations, the United States and its military allies in the region to goad the international community into stepping up funding for the relief effort, which has been severely underfunded. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton pledged an additional $60 million to the U.N. flood relief in Pakistan, bringing the total U.S. contribution to $150 million. Britain's development minister, Andrew Mitchell, pledged an additional $33 million, saying that the pace of funding for has been "woefully inadequate."

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who recently visited the flood disaster region, also sought to dramatize the extraordinary nature of the floods, which have inundated 20 percent of Pakistan, an area larger than Italy. Ban said more people have been affected by the flood than the combined populations hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami, Cyclone Nargis, and the Haitian earthquake. "Pakistan is facing a slow-motion tsunami; its destructive power will accumulate and grow with time," Ban told U.N. delegates. "At least 160,000 square kilometers of land is under water -- an area larger than more than half the countries of the world."   

"We have never seen anything like this before. 1919, I'm told was a mega flood. This far exceeds that," Qureshi told a gathering of diplomats, investors, journalists and Pakistani-Americans at a discussion on the flood at the Asia Society.

Qureshi, who was joined by Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Rajiv Shah, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, singled out the United States for leading the international effort to respond to the worst natural calamity in modern history. "Thank you America," said Qureshi, noting that ordinary Pakistanis recognized the role that the United States has played since the floods struck. "You have contributed significantly; you have shown the world that you are a caring nation."

He also thanked George Soros, the billionaire investor and philanthropist, who announced plans today to allocate $5 million -- more money than the vast majority of foreign countries contributing to the flood response -- to a Pakistan democracy program he runs to help those in need. The InterAsian Development Bank also announced it would make $2 billion in low interest loans over the next two years to help pave the way to a massive reconstruction effort.

Today's pledges moved the U.N. closer to raising the nearly $460 million it is seeking to fund relief operations over the next six months. The fund raising effort has drawn criticism of many of Pakistan's closest allies, including oil rich sheikdoms like Saudi Arabia and China, which have provided only a trickle of aid to the U.N.-led relief effort."I think the Chinese should step up to the plate," Holbrooke said in a briefing with a handful of reporters. "They always say Pakistan is their closest ally."

Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, which has faced sharp criticism for its slow response, announced that it will pledge about $105 million in assistance, most of it in the form of relief supplies. Only about $5 million will be provided in cash to the Pakistan National Disaster Management Authority. None is earmarked for the U.N.'s relief efforts. The European Union has also increased its funding commitment by $39 million to about $90 million. Several other countries, including Sweden, Denmark, Turkey, also made new contributions today.

But Qureshi defended his country's allies, saying that Saudi Arabia has been sending relief planes into Pakistan ever since the flood began and that China has stepped in to provide life-saving assistance to more than 27,000 Pakistanis who live near the Chinese border. "They have never let us down in the past and I don't expect them to let us down now," he said of China.

Qureshi and Holbrooke said they were acutely aware that the Pakistani floods could have massive strategic implications for their countries' security interests in the region, but insisted that, for now,  their main focus was on saving lives. Holbrooke also made it clear that the U.S. saw the flood as an opportunity to showcase American generosity, saying he and other top U.S. diplomats had developed a slogan. "We want to be the first in, with the most assistance," he said.

Qureshi acknowledged criticism that the Pakistan government was slow to respond in the initial days of the flood. "Initially there was shock and paralysis but we are now getting our act together," he said. "We've been struck by this national calamity; we will face it and we will muster the resources and get out of this."

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Last night, 25 armed, masked men set fire to a U.N. summer camp at a beach in Nuseirat, Gaza, destroying inflatable pools and tents and roughing up a group of guards protecting the facility. It was the second attack on a U.N. recreation facility in just over a month. On May 23, a group of 30 masked, armed men set fire to another U.N. summer camp facility under construction in Gaza City. They also threatened to kill the U.N.'s top relief official in Gaza.

U.N. officials told Turtle Bay they don't know who attacked the recreation facilities but they suspect the vandals are Islamic extremists who object to programs that allow boys and girls to jointly swim, play volleyball, and learn about the arts, theater and other cultural activities.

"This is another example of the growing levels of extremism in Gaza," John Ging, the director of operations for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, said in a statement. "The overwhelming use of UNRWA's Summer Games has once again obviously frustrated those that are intolerant."

The U.N. established the Summer Games program four years ago. The U.N.'s 1,200 camps provide a rare distraction from the hardships endured by more than 250,000 Palestinian refugees that live in the Gaza Strip. The program runs from June 12 through August 5. In last night's raid, the assailants tied up the guards, set fire to tables and easels, and slashed inflatable pools and tents.

In response, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's office issued a statement condemning the act of "vandalism," and saying such attacks are "an assault upon the well-being of Gaza's children." The statement called on the "de facto authorities" -- a reference to Hamas, the Islamic movement that came to power through elections in 2007 and whose legitimacy the U.N. does not fully recognize -- to "combat any incitement" against U.N. activities, and to ensure the safety of U.N. personnel and facilities.

Ging said that the U.N. will rebuild the Nuseirat summer camp immediately, and that the United Nations remains committed to continuing the summer program, "which is so important for the physical and psychological well-being of Gaza's children, so many of whom are stressed and traumatized by their circumstances and experiences."

Ging said the attacks on U.N. summer camps provided "further evidence, if that were needed, of the urgency to change the circumstances on the ground that are generating such extremism." Gaza has been the target of an Egyptian and Israeli blockade, which has banned many goods from entering the Palestinian territory. Facing mounting international pressure, Israel has agreed to ease the blockade by increasing the number of items that can be imported to Gaza.

Israel's deputy U.N. ambassador, Daniel Carmon, told Turtle Bay the camp attacks are "another reflection of what Israeli has been saying for years: that the territory is literally occupied by a terrorist organization, Hamas," that promotes and permits "extremism, terrorism, rockets over Israel and now, attacks against summer camps managed by the international community."

The U.N. summer camps compete with Hamas-run programs for the hearts of the more than 700,000 children under the age of 15 that live in the Gaza Strip, the Associated Press reported. About 100,000 kids reportedly attend Hamas camps.

"Hamas camps teach an anti-Israeli doctrine and military-style marching, along with horseback riding, swimming and Islam," according to the U.S. news agency. "The U.N. says its hopes to help shield Gaza's children against the lure of militancy, a task that is getting harder in this impoverished territory."

U.N. officials say that Hamas has permitted the U.N. summer camps to function since coming to power in 2007. And Hamas's interior ministry condemned last night's attack, attributing it to "groups led by those with a misguided idea who want to distort the situation in Gaza." Hamas said it would investigate the attacks, and provide additional security at the U.N. camps.

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As a U.N. commission last month finalized its wide-ranging probe into Benazir Bhutto's 2007 assassination, the Pakistani press began publishing a flurry of leaks suggesting the U.N. sleuths had overlooked promising leads and failed to interview key witnesses, including former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who had purportedly warned the former prime minister her life was in danger.

The stories have placed the United Nations on the defensive, raising questions among Pakistanis officials about the exhaustiveness of the U.N. inquiry. But it has also fueled suspicions at the U. N. that Pakistan may be laying the spadework for a public relations counterattack when the long-anticipated report is issued on April 15. The report -- which has not yet been made public -- is expected to sharply criticize the Pakistani security establishment for its failure to protect Bhutto or to preserve the crime scene after her assassination, according to U.N. officials.

Pakistani authorities have publicly urged the U.N. commission to reopen the investigation, arguing that a more thorough examination of evidence is required. Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for President Asif Ali Zardari, said Pakistan has asked the commission to question two unidentified heads of state who warned Bhutto of "serious threats to her life." Babar told the Associated Press the interviews "can make the report more credible."

The revelations surfaced shortly after Zardari, who was Bhutto's husband, made an urgent appeal to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to delay the release of the U.N. commission's report. Zardari, who had pressed Ban to authorize an investigation into her death weeks after he was sworn in as Pakistan's new leader, provided no explanation as to why he wanted to delay the release of the findings.

The move represents a political retreat by the Pakistani leader, who is now facing challenges to his authority on several fronts. The Pakistani parliament is moving to strip him of powers he inherited from Pakistan's military government, and Pakistan's Supreme Court is set to reopen a pair of corruption cases against him.

"For two years now the government of Pakistan has been pushing for a U.N. investigation into what happened," a U.N.-based official familiar with the probe told Turtle Bay. "Now that the work is done, the information coming from them seems to be geared towards discrediting whatever the commission produces."

The three-member U.N. commission, headed by Chilean U.N. ambassador Heraldo Muñoz, conducted a nine-month-long investigation into the circumstances surrounding the assassination of Bhutto, who had returned to Pakistan in October 2008 following an eight-year exile to campaign in elections for the country's presidency. The commission also includes former Indonesian attorney general Marzuki Darusman, and Ireland's former deputy police commissioner, Peter Fitzgerald, who conducted a damning 2005 probe that linked Syrian authorities to the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Ban's spokesman Farhan Haq told Turtle Bay: "On the basis of what the commissioners have informed us, so far, they believe that their work is done. The government of Pakistan is free to provide any further information it believes it is worthy of consideration. The commissioners have seen a considerable amount of relevant information, including what has been in the news media in recent days, and after conferring in light of the latest information, they continue to say that they have completed their work."

The U.N. investigators have held meetings with several current and past Pakistani military, intelligence, and law enforcement officials, including former military leader Gen. Pervez Musharraf. A senior U.N.-based official confirmed that Munoz's team had sought interviews with Rice and other foreign dignitaries believed to have information. (Side note: Rice was a classmate of Munoz's at the University of Denver. They both studied under professor Josef Korbel, a former Czech diplomat and scholar whose daughter, Madeleine K. Albright, went on to become the first female U.S. secretary of state.) But Rice and others refused to cooperate with the U.N. commission, which lacks subpoena power to compel sources to testify, according to a second U.N.-based officials familiar with the probe. Asked to respond, a spokeswoman for Rice, Caroline Beswick, told Turtle Bay: "Unfortunately, Dr. Rice is not granting interviews at this time. Thank you for your request."

The fact that Bhutto was a prime target was no secret. A suicide bomber attacked her motorcade in October 2007, the day she returned from exile, killing more than 130 people. Bhutto was not harmed.

But establishing who ultimately succeeded in killing Bhutto has been elusive. After her killing, Musharraf's government blamed Baitullah Mehsud, a Pakistani militant commander allegedly linked to al Qaeda. But Bhutto's supporters have challenged that theory. Even before Zardari requested a delay, a Pakistani newspaper reported that the U.N. commission was pursuing four retired military officers suspected of conducting a rogue operation. But the second U.N.-based official familiar with the investigation said it was untrue.

Zardari's defenders say his call for a delay reflects a desire to get to the bottom of his wife's death. "It's pretty obvious protection of her was totally inadequate given the fact that she had been the subject of a major, incredibly deadly, assassination attempt in October," said former U.S. diplomat Peter Galbraith, a close friend of Bhutto's and Zardari's.

Galbraith said he was asked by Zardari to participate in the U.N. investigation, and that Ban had agreed to appoint him to the commission. But he subsequently was offered the job as deputy U.N. special representative in Afghanistan. He was subsequently fired from that job over a dispute with his boss, Kai Eide, on the U.N.'s handling of fraudulent ballots in the country's August elections.

"The only thing I know is that there were some people they wanted interviewed that hadn't agreed to be interviewed," Galbraith said. "I think he genuinely wants an honest and full report on the circumstance of his with wife's murder. I don't believe it will put him in greater political difficulty."

Correction:  This post originally stated that Rice and Muñoz attended the University of Colorado. It was actually the University of Denver. Turtle Bay regrets the error.