"Entire villages -- they have collapsed... almost entire towns, they have vanished..."

The death toll from yesterday's earthquake in Pakistan nears 20,000, with many still buried in rubble:

Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf issued a plea on Sunday for foreign aid -- specifically, cargo helicopters and relief goods such as tents and blankets.

Helicopters are necessary, he said, because roads leading into some remote areas have been buried by landslides and the areas cannot be reached.

Musharraf said it was difficult to reach remote areas, "which are mountains anywhere over 10,000 feet."

"We can only go by roads, and roads also don't reach to every corner, so therefore it's only helicopter access that we have. Things are not as simple as one would see in the West."

He asked the international community to "bear with us. We have formulated our strategy now. UK and U.S., yes, indeed, we will expect helicopter support from you."

Isn't this a difficult situation, sending American helicopters to the very area -- the mountainous region bordering Afghanistan -- where our worst enemies have been hiding for years? Yet it isn't possible for us not to help.

UPDATE: As I wrote that post, the estimated turned to 30,000:

Villagers desperate to find survivors dug with bare hands Sunday through the debris of a collapsed school where children had been heard crying beneath the rubble...