Relations Remain Icy Between Pakistan and the US

[xchrom]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/tense-relationship-between-the-us-and-pakistan-since-bin-laden-death-a-832291.html

Sheikh Rashid Ahmed leans back in his desk chair as he makes a continuous stream of phone calls in his dimly lit office. The TV set is switched on, yet muted and in front of him is a revolver in its holster. He reaches for it, smiles and then lets it sit there. He has carried a weapon since hired killers shot at him from a motorcycle two years ago.

Ahmed, 61, is a veteran of Pakistani politics. He served in several cabinet posts under Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president from 2001 to 2008, most recently as the Federal Minister for Railways. When Musharraf was forced to resign four years ago, Ahmed went down with him. After that, he became religious and founded his own party, the "Awami Muslim League Pakistan," and formally declared jihad on America.
For weeks, Ahmed has been going around the country with a traveling circus of militant, religious men, whipping up the masses into a frenzy against the United States. Together, the men stand around the microphone, their index fingers raised, as each of them says that it is Allah's will that the superpower will lose the war in Afghanistan, and that Pakistan too must now cast off its yoke. They preach hate.

The traveling circus consists of the leaders of 44 religious groups who joined forces about half a year ago to form the "Pakistan Defence Council." They include orthodox mullahs and jihadists, Muslim sect leaders and members of Islamic revival movements. Ahmed is among the more moderate forces, unlike Hafiz Saeed, who is considered to be the mastermind behind the deadly attack on two hotels and a train station in Mumbai in November 2008, in which 166 people died.

[ellisonz]

1. International Red Cross is suspending their work in Pakistan...

...when they're on the fence, you know it's a clusterfuck.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/10/world/asia/pakistan-red-cross/index.html

I would say that Pakistani politics are even more screwed up than Afghan politics, and there is no good answer.