Barely had Pakistanis broken out the mithai and bhangra at the swearing in of a new Prime Minister and the release of judges including boss judge Iftikhar Chaudhry, when the heavies winged in to watch over their investment:
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Richard Boucher, […]

Moving away from the subject of Iraq, Barack Obama spoke on national security today, calling for a major change in Pakistan and Afghanistan policy and slamming the diversion in the sands of Iraq. He wants to get rid of Musharraf, make Pakistan aid conditional on fighting jihadis and restoring democracy, boost non-military aid, and continue […]

Pakistani chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was trying to find people whom the dictator had tortured or disappeared without trial. Some were terrorism suspects fingered by the U.S., guilty and innocent alike; others were political prisoners whom Musharraf disliked.
For Chaudhry’s trouble, he was illegally deposed by the dictator and placed under house arrest. This helped trigger […]

At tonight’s Dem debate, Obama made the obvious point that Dubya has already pivoted toward his policy of targeted terrorist assassinations in Pakistan:

Clinton: … last summer [Obama] basically threatened to bomb Pakistan, which I don’t think was a particularly wise position to take. I have long advocated a much tougher approach to Musharraf and to […]

The Dem presidential candidates briefly mentioned Pakistan at tonight’s debate. Obama reiterated that backing Musharraf has been a colossal mistake:

Obama: [About a U.S. soldier he spoke with] They were capturing Taliban weapons, because it was easier for them to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander-in-chief… […]

A Shah of Iran-type situation could result if we enrage the Pakistani populaceAs y’all know, the Prime Directive of Star Trek is non-interference in the internal affairs of an alien civilization. But America’s foreign policy apparatus, whether military or diplomatic, never bought into that hippie-dippy Roddenberry crap. The Prime Directive of our realpolitik is simple: […]

Experts tell us the first stage of grief is denial:

… the first election returns were barely in Monday night when the U.S. government began pressing victorious opposition leaders not to impeach the former military strongman… U.S. diplomats pushed hard against any effort to dislodge the retired army general who had just suffered a public rejection, […]

After winning the Wisconsin primary tonight, John McCain repeated his misleading claim that Barack Obama wants to bomb Pakistan:

“…. will we risk the confused leadership of an inexperienced candidate who once suggested bombing our ally, Pakistan…” [Link]
What Obama actually wants is surgical airstrikes against Al Qaeda leaders in tribal areas, not against Islamabad:

It was a […]

The founder of the group blog Pakistaniat was interviewed in the Boston Globe, and his idea of what makes a great blog is pretty much my nightmare. For one thing, the blog, which says it gets 10K visitors/day, had Lal Masjid militants posting comments during the commando siege:
… when Pakistani security forces laid siege to […]

The Diana-ization of Benazir Bhutto continued last night with a credulous Jon Stewart offering her U.S. spokesman free rein to rewrite her as a saint of democracy:

(watch it on their site)
Mark Siegel is counting on Americans’ ignorance of Pakistan to gloss over the fact that the kleptocrat oligarch backed jihadis to the hilt when she […]

Sibel Edmonds

The Times of London has been serializing a blockbuster tale of nuclear espionage in America at the behest of former FBI translater Sibel Edmonds. After years of being gagged by abusive, supposed national security laws, Edmonds is risking jail by going public with the British paper. She alleges that under sponsorship of a high-ranking […]

Steve Coll’s story on Pakistan in the latest New Yorker is a must-read. Here’s the abstract — check it out at the newsstand. What stood out:

It would be cheaper to fund Pakistan’s courts than to buy weapons against the Taliban, because people come to the Taliban to swiftly settle disputes where courts do not. It’s […]

MiG-29 clone: $20 million. Pimping the paint job: priceless.

Mmm, Tatooine. Putting into the sky a second moon is the stealthiest camouflage pattern since the 101st Flying Targets

Pakistan and China on Tuesday began joint production of the JF-17 multi-role fighter at a facility in Punjab province, with the Pakistan Air Force chief saying that by […]

This Pakistan International Airlines ad is most unfortunate in retrospect. But in ‘79, in a French publication, how were they to know? It evokes the silly, retroactive digital excision of the towers from movies after 9/11.
I say put them back in. It’s scar concealer for a killer blemish. (via Reddit)

A selection of articles about Pakistan from the Atlantic.

It’s not just Giuliani: a Jewish human rights group ran a full-page ad in today’s NYT reading its own agenda into the assassination of Benazir. It’s ostensibly to sign a petition which the ISI will never read, but sub rosa it’s probably a fundraising initiative.

Mmm, tasteful.
Related posts: The virgin Ironpants, Rude Giuliani, There will be […]

Here’s Salman Rushdie on Benazir Bhutto in Shame, his satire on Pakistani politics:

Arjumand Harappa qualified in the law, became active in the green revolution, threw zamindars out of their palaces, opened dungeons, led raids on the homes of film stars and slit open their mattresses with a long two-edged knife, laughed as the black money […]

Rudy Giuliani: if you don’t let me shag my mistress in the NYC antiterrorism center on the government dime, Benazir’s killers will get you.

Oh, but he supports Benazir’s killers too — allegedly the Pakistani military. (via TPM)
Related posts: There will be blood, Yes Minister, Homecoming (updated)

The Dead Bhuttos

Benazir Bhutto’s elegant, nose-jobbed mug was all over U.S. news today. She was attractive, vain, and spoke elegant Anglicized English. It was the perfect storm: terrorists’ media whoring met the Cable Fluff Network and Fox ‘News’ fetish for attractive women in trouble. The story of her assassination turned into the Natalee Holloway of […]

Those who cannot remember the past…
The book Charlie Wilson’s War by George Crile makes it clear that very little has changed in American policy towards Pakistan in the last 30 years. The U.S. still backs the dictator du jour:

… without Zia running Pakistan by martial law, there could be no Afghan war. Officially there was […]