The call from the militants battling the government came as the United States stepped up aid for victims of the floods which have killed more than 1,600 people, forced two million from their homes and disrupted the lives of about 14 million people, or 8 percent of the population. “We urge the government not to take Western aid,” a Pakistani Taleban spokesman, Azam Tariq, said by telephone.

“The government in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa and the center are desperate to get it, not for the people affected but to make their bank accounts bigger,” he said, referring to the northwestern province hardest hit by the floods.

Roiling floods triggered by unusually heavy monsoon rain have scoured the Indus river basin leaving a trail of destruction from mountains in the north to the plains of

Sindh province in the south. Hundreds of roads and bridges have been destroyed and waters have not yet crested in the south, meaning the situation could get worse in Pakistan, a US ally.

There is concern that charities with links to militant groups have been seeking to fill the gap left by what many see as the inadequate response by Pakistani authorities.

The United Nations says the disaster is the biggest the country had ever faced and it would cost billions of dollars to rehabilitate the victims and rebuild ruined infrastructure.

Outgoing UN humanitarian chief John Holmes appealed Wednesday for $460 million in emergency aid for Pakistan’s catastrophic floods.

The International Monetary Fund has warned of major economic harm and the Finance Ministry said the country would miss this year’s 4.5 percent gross domestic product growth target though it was not clear by how much. Pakistani stocks were up 0.68 percent in morning trade but dealers termed this as “pullback” after the KSE-index fell by nearly 4 percent in the last two trading sessions.

President Asif Ali Zardari, under fire for his government’s perceived sluggish response to the floods, returned home on Tuesday from foreign visits he embarked on as the disaster was unfolding. Zardari was in Karachi on Wednesday. Officials said they did not know if he would visit the disaster zone. Earlier they said he was expected to.

The military, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 63-year history, has taken the lead in relief efforts, reinforcing the faith many Pakistanis have in the ability of their armed forces and highlighting the comparative ineffectiveness of civilian governments.

The United States announced an additional $20 million in help on Tuesday amid growing concern over the political, economic and security ramifications of the disaster.

The United States needs a stable Pakistan to help it end a nine-year war by the Taleban in Afghanistan.

The new aid brought to $55 million the amount of funds committed by Washington to relief efforts, along with US military helicopters that have been airlifting survivors trapped by the worst floods in the region in 80 years.

The US efforts may win Washington some support in Pakistan, where anti-American sentiment runs high.

“Let’s not talk about politics. We were trapped here and they came to evacuate us. You cannot imagine the terrible feeling I had and how happy we are now,” Abdul Rehman, 37, who was evacuated by a US helicopter after being stranded with a new-born baby and wife in the Swat Valley.