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Monday, April 20, 2009

Tensions in Islamabad

Went to see a former senior military officer who lives on the same street as the army commander in chief. After our car was searched, and checked underneath and in the trunk for bombs, we were shunted into a side lot where a guard loosely pointed a gun at us until a convoy with the commander-in-chief passed by. Then we were permitted to leave.  The army is under siege and no one is taking chances that a visiting car could blow up the top general.

Had dinner at the Luna Caprese Italian restaurant, where a high wall protects a garden in the rear. Friends tell me this place used to be packed because it serves wine which most restaurants don't and provides a respite from tensions outside. As we sit and chat, 1940s dance music plays in the background. 

But a bomb was thrown into the garden a little over a year ago, killing two and injuring 15 including three American citizens. So now, the place is largely empty. The U.N. club, another popular place for an outing has closed, and many NGOs and embassies have sent family members home.
Posted by Trudy Rubin @ 3:20 PM  Permalink | 4 comments
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:14 PM, 04/21/2009
    Ms. Rubin: How do you explain the inaction and seeming apathy of the Pakistani parliament? Are they of the mindset that peace can be achieved through a policy of appeasement, even if that policy means that the Taliban controls the entire country? Or is it just that they cannot agree on a strategy to combat the Taliban movement? It seems plain as day that Pakistan is very quickly running out of time and needs to take immediate and more substantial action to stem the tide. Also, does the U.S., NATO or the U.N. have plans to do anything to change the culture within the Afghan and now Pakistani refugee camps? Since these places are breeding grounds for the Taliban and their brainwashing of poor and desperate children and families, it would seem that America and Western NGOs need to provide the money and services that the Taliban does to convert people to their cause. Or did that proverbial train leave the station in the late 1980s? Also, what is your opinion of former foreign minister Abdullah and reports that he may be running for president of Afghanistan? Does he have enough country-wide support to unite the Afghans? He seems to me to be a much more palatable choice than the ineffectual and corrupt Karzai. Stay safe in your travels, and thanks for providing your great insight into such a critical area of the world and American national security interests.
    — benderheel
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:15 PM, 04/21/2009
    Ms. Rubin: How do you explain the inaction and seeming apathy of the Pakistani parliament? Are they of the mindset that peace can be achieved through a policy of appeasement, even if that policy means that the Taliban controls the entire country? Or is it just that they cannot agree on a strategy to combat the Taliban movement? It seems plain as day that Pakistan is very quickly running out of time and needs to take immediate and more substantial action to stem the tide. Also, does the U.S., NATO or the U.N. have plans to do anything to change the culture within the Afghan and now Pakistani refugee camps? Since these places are breeding grounds for the Taliban and their brainwashing of poor and desperate children and families, it would seem that America and Western NGOs need to provide the money and services that the Taliban does to convert people to their cause. Or did that proverbial train leave the station in the late 1980s? Finally, what is your opinion of former foreign minister Abdullah and reports that he may be running for president of Afghanistan? Does he have enough country-wide support to unite the Afghans? He seems to me to be a much more palatable choice than the ineffectual and corrupt Karzai. Stay safe in your travels, and thanks for providing your great insight into such a critical area of the world and American national security interests.
    — benderheel
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:44 PM, 04/22/2009
    Oh no. No place to listen to music and have a good meal!!!! Is this liberal idiot serious?
    — Kaiser Sosa
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:08 PM, 04/22/2009
    Hey Rubin, You have missed out the fact that Taliban has been inching towards the capital of Pakistan,Islamabad.They intend to take over the city and the country as well there are signs of Talibanization already with the sharia law being imposed in many parts of the country.Worse is yet to come.Just as it had happened to Afghanistan Ram Idaho Payday Loan
    — Ram1


4 comments
About Trudy Rubin
Trudy Rubin’s Worldview column runs on Thursdays and Sundays. In 2009-2011 she has made four lengthy trips to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Over the past seven years, she visited Iraq eleven times, and also wrote from Iran, Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, China, and South Korea. She is the author of Willful Blindness: the Bush Administration and Iraq, a book of her columns from 2002-2004. In 2001 she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary and in 2008 she was awarded the Edward Weintal prize for international reporting. In 2010 she won the Arthur Ross award for international commentary from the Academy of American Diplomacy.
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