The Latest from Iran (13 September): The Danger of Half-Naked Men

See also Iran Latest: Ahmadinejad "Unilateral Pardon" for US Hikers Bauer & Fattal in 48 Hours
Iran Feature: A Guide to The Political Battle Within Tehran's Establishment
Iran MediaFail: America's NBC News Proudly Presents "A Day in the Life of Ahmadinejad"

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2110 GMT: Denial of the Day. According to Fars, via Khabar Online, President Ahmadinejad's office continues to deny that 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, suspected of involvement in fraud, has been dismissed.

2000 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Here's a wrinkle in the hard-line blogosphere in Iran: the blogger "Grain of Character" has asked the Supreme Leader to end his support for Presidnet Ahmadinejad and allow his istizah --- an interrogation possibly leading to impeachment -- by Parliament.

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Afghanistan Feature: Pakistan to Karzai "Pick Us, Not the US" (Rosenberg)

Hamid Karzai and Yusuf Reza GilaniPakistan is lobbying Afghanistan's president against building a long-term strategic partnership with the U.S., urging him instead to look to Pakistan --- and its Chinese ally --- for help in striking a peace deal with the Taliban and rebuilding the economy, Afghan officials say.

The pitch was made at an April 16 meeting in Kabul by Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who bluntly told Afghan President Hamid Karzai that the Americans had failed them both, according to Afghans familiar with the meeting. Mr. Karzai should forget about allowing a long-term U.S. military presence in his country, Mr. Gilani said, according to the Afghans. Pakistan's bid to cut the U.S. out of Afghanistan's future is the clearest sign to date that, as the nearly 10-year war's endgame begins, tensions between Washington and Islamabad threaten to scuttle America's prospects of ending the conflict on its own terms.

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Pakistan and US: Border Opened to NATO Tankers But Tensions Continue (Cole)

The Pakistani government has decided to reopen the Torkham border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the route whereby 70 percent of US/NATO supplies and 40 percent of fuel are brought by truck into Afghanistan. The Pakistani Frontier Corps and the Afghanistan National Army began work Sunday to coordinate the clearing of the huge backlog of trucks that have been stuck at the crossing for a week and a half. Some reports say that the opening is expected to occur on Monday.

Pakistan closed the crossing to trucks transporting goods for NATO & the US after a September 30 incident in which US helicopter gunships made incursions into Pakistani territory and then fired missiles at a Frontiers Corps checkpoint, apparently mistaking the scouts for Taliban. Two scouts were killed and four wounded. Pakistani nerves were already raw because of unmanned drone strikes on Pakistani territory.

US President Barack Obama and Gen. David Petraeus appear to have decided to push for more hot pursuit missions into Pakistan from Afghanistan, and this decision was absolutely unacceptable to the Pakistani military, as well as to the public.

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Pakistan: US Supplies for Afghanistan Blocked, 27 Trucks Burned (Cole)

Tensions between the United States, NATO, and the Pakistani government boiled over on Thursday and Friday after American helicopter gunships killed 3 Pakistani Frontier Corpsmen and wounded 4 others. The two countries are nominally allies in the battle against Taliban and other extremists, but Pakistan stands accused of being selective in which extremists it wants to combat and of remaining anti-American even as it takes $8.5 bn. in aid from Washington.

Some 27 NATO fuel tankers parked near Shikarpur and sidelined because of the Pakistani blockade of such vehicles were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades by insurgents early on Friday, turning them into a massive bonfire.

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