by Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times. October 12, 2010

Years of illegal logging by the 'timber mafia' and the Taliban cleared forests, allowing raging floodwater to flow unimpeded, experts say.　

Reporting from Chail, Pakistan — People here remember when hundreds of Pakistani Taliban militants roamed through the forested ridges flanking the Chail River, armed not with AK-47s but with axes.

Employing termite-like efficiency, the militants felled and carted away vast swaths of Himalayan cedar, blue pine and oak, leaving mountainsides dotted with stumps.

Through illegal logging, the Taliban generated quick cash to keep its arsenals stocked. But nearly a decade of tree felling by militants and with 35 years of deforestation by unscrupulous timber businesses and wealthy landowners have had an unforeseen consequence.

Deforestation along the Swat Valley's waterways made destruction caused by this summer's massive floods measurably worse, experts say. The loss of dense woodland made stream and river banks much more prone to erosion. Riverside forests that could have stemmed the force of raging floodwater were gone...READ MORE