Pakistan has blocked vital supply routes for U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan and demanded Washington vacate Shamsi Air Base, used by American drones that target al-Qaida and Taliban militants in Pakistan’s tribal region, after coalition aircraft allegedly killed up to 28 Pakistani troops at two military outposts along a mountainous frontier that serves as a safe haven for militants.
Summary: Angry over the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden, Pakistani lawmakers are demanding an end to U.S. missile strikes against Islamist militants on their soil and warned that Pakistan may cut NATO’s supply line to Afghanistan if the attacks don’t stop. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 14, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that Al-Qaida in Iraq warned Shiites that “dark days soaked with blood” lay ahead with a new campaign of violence yet to come.
Summary: Unmanned U.S. aircraft launched two missile strikes in a Pakistani tribal region along the Afghan border, killing nine people. The U.S. carried out 21 such strikes in September, nearly double the previous monthly record, and has already launched 16 in October. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 15, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that the wave of anti-government violence in Pakistan had escalated to the level of low-intensity guerrilla war.
Summary: Continuing a surge in CIA-run, drone-fired attacks, the U.S. conducted two missile strikes in the northwestern Pakistan tribal region along the Afghan border today, killing nine suspected militants. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 8, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that there were indications Afghanistan could become the theater for a proxy war between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.
Summary: Pakistan’s shutting of a key supply line for coalition troops in Afghanistan and the apparent ease with which militants are attacking the stranded convoys are shaking an already uncomfortable relationship between Washington and Islamabad. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 4, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that hundreds of insurgents armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades nearly overran a U.S. outpost near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, killing eight U.S. soldiers and capturing more than 20 Afghan security forces in the deadliest assault against U.S. troops in more than a year.
Summary: Militants attacked and set fire to at least 20 tankers carrying oil for NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the third such strike inside Pakistan in as many days. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 3, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that President Barack Obama had met with Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, as he pondered whether the U.S. should send tens of thousands more troops to crush the Taliban in a broad counterinsurgency strategy, or shift to a narrower antiterrorism focus on al-Qaida in neighboring Pakistan.
Summary: Pakistan has blocked a vital supply route for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan in apparent retaliation for an alleged cross-border helicopter strike by the coalition that killed three Pakistani frontier troops. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 30, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that the Princeton, Minn., police and fire departments and bomb squads from Minneapolis and Crow Wing County were responding to reports of suspicious packages at the Princeton post office, high school, and public utilities building. It was later established that the packages contained “inert powders” and no hazardous materials — an apparent hoax. Police ultimately took two local teenagers into custody a couple of days after the incident.
Summary: In a 44-minute audio recording that appears to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S., al-Qaida’s No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, released an audio recording accusing the Pakistani government of responding too slowly to severe flooding in the country and calling on Pakistanis to revolt. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 16, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that former president Jimmy Carter told NBC’s Brian Williams in an interview that he believed race was at the core of much of the opposition to President Obama.
Summary: A U.S. missile strike in Pakistan’s North Waziristan region has killed five alleged militants in northwestern Pakistan, the fourth such attack on suspected insurgent targets there in 24 hours. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 9, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Michele Bachmann testified that God told her to run for Congress and then, after being elected, said she would run for president if called by God. But she topped that assertion by claiming that Democrats want to take her down because they fear she could become the first woman president of the United States.
Summary: The death toll from a Pakistani Taliban suicide attack on a Shiite Muslim procession rose to 65 as critically wounded people died in hospitals, while a suspected U.S. missile strike killed seven insurgents. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 4, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that the Associated Press’ publication of a photo of dying Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard had prompted controversy, with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and John Bernard, father of Lance Cpl. Bernard, weighing in.