UPDATE: Thousands Rally Against US and NATO in Pakistan

Following up on a post earlier today, a reader in India sends us this from AFP:

Thousands rally against US, NATO in NW Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Dec 18, 2008 (AFP) - Thousands of protesters rallied in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Thursday, demanding that Islamabad end its logistical support for US and NATO troops in Afghanistan.
The crowd of about 5,000 demonstrators chanted "Allahu akbar" (God is greater), "Crush America" and "No to NATO supplies" as they marched through Peshawar, an AFP correspondent witnessed.

The rally came amid a recent spike in attacks by Taliban militants on NATO and US supply depots on Peshawar's outskirts, close to Pakistan's lawless tribal areas -- a hotbed of Taliban and Al-Qaeda activity.
International forces in Afghanistan are hugely dependent on Islamabad for their supplies and equipment, with about 80 percent transported through Pakistan and then across the border.
The chief of the radical Jamaat-i-Islami party, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, told protesters: "It is a shame for an Islamic country to supply logistics to the US, which is working against the interests of Muslims all over the world."
He demanded the government abandon its role as an ally in the US-led "war on terror", warning that if logistical support is not suspended, "we will force the government with public support to halt all supplies."
On Wednesday, missiles fired by suspected Taliban militants targeting a NATO supply convoy killed a woman and wounded her two children in the Khyber tribal district, on the main supply route into Afghanistan.

And this, from December 16:

BRUSSELS, Dec 16, 2008 (AFP) - NATO played down Tuesday a recent spate of attacks on depots and convoys on a key Pakistan route, saying that supplies were still getting through to its force in strife-torn Afghanistan.
"The Pakistani route is still open, is still safe," Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, the head of NATO's military committee, told reporters. "At the moment, the supplies are passing.
His remarks came after haulage companies in Pakistan said they had stopped delivering to foreign troops in Afghanistan after a major deterioration in security along the supply route to the Khyber Pass.
The bulk of the supplies and equipment required by NATO and US-led forces battling the Taliban insurgency on the border is shipped to Pakistan's largest port, Karachi in the south.
From there, the containers of food, fuel, vehicles and munitions are taken by truck to depots outside Peshawar before being transported through Pakistan's restive tribal areas to Afghanistan via the Khyber pass.
But the fabled road passes through the heart of Pakistan's tribal zone, a largely lawless region turned hideout for militants since the US-led ousting of Afghanistan's Taliban regime at the end of 2001.
Di Paola said that NATO was looking to diversify its supplies, with progress being made on an agreement with Russia to allow non-lethal equipment to be shipped through to its troops.
"We are looking to open multiple routes of communication," he said, noting that talks with Turkmenistan were also advancing. "The more lines, the better."
Pakistan's army chief vowed last month to help keep NATO's supply line open.

Follow-up: Showdown for the al-Maliki Government?

Reporting yesterday on the significance of the arrest of up to 35 Interior Ministry officials and military officers in Iraq, we wrote:

Assuming that all those arrested are Sunni, the Shi’a-led al-Maliki Government now faces a challenge that goes beyond plotters — both political and military — in its midst.

It has taken less than 24 hours for the political complications to emerge.



CNN has been told by "one knowledgeable Iraqi politician" that the arrests "stem" from internal conflicts between political parties ahead of the January 31 provincial elections". And, far from helping al-Maliki, a "senior US military official" concurred, that "the arrests appear to have been politically motivated".

That last quote is especially interesting. Could it be that the al-Maliki Government has arrested officials who have been involved in the American "surge" strategy of bolstering local Sunni groups?

The War on Terror: What Happened to the Iraqi Shoes?

Further proof of President Bush's vigilance in keeping us safer:

Reports on Thursday said that the shoes thrown at Mr Bush had been examined by both Iraqi officials and the US Secret Service following the incident, and had then been destroyed.

Breaking News: Iraqi Judge Says Muntazar Al-Zaidi Beaten

From The Daily Telegraph:

Dhia al-Kinani, the investigating judge in the case, which is determining whether the man will stand trial, said that Muntadhar al-Zeidi had bruises on his face and around his eyes.

Pakistan: You May Want to Notice This

The story only gets one paragraph in The New York Times, and I haven't seen it elsewhere in US and British newspapers:

Thousands of antigovernment protesters demanded Thursday that Pakistan shut the route along which supplies are ferried to American and NATO forces in Afghanistan. The demonstration, staged by more than 10,000 people in the city of Peshawar, also focused on a recent series of American missile strikes against targets suspected of belonging to Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan’s tribal areas. Leaders of the demonstration drew links between the missile attacks and the supply line, saying the equipment was being used for attacks on Pakistani soil and vowing to shut down the convoys.

So now it's not just "Taliban", attacking NATO warehouses and destroying hundreds of trucks, who are threatening the US-led supply operation for the forthcoming "surge" in Afghanistan. (Take note, Washington Post, which is still catching up with that story.)

And why might thousands of demonstrators in Pakistan take to the streets against the US/NATO campaign in Afghanistan? Before you say "extremism", "Taliban sympathiser", etc., consider:

A deadly United States military raid on a house near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan became a new source of tension on Thursday, with the Americans calling it a successful counterterrorism strike and the Afghans saying it left three innocent civilians dead and two wounded.