An American Journeys Into Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Sept. 9, 2007 — -- The Islamabad airport is like a tool shed with planes -- not so big, cluttered, plunked in someone's backyard. There's no taxi-way, so you land, make a u-turn and head on up the runway toward the terminal.

There's one line for foreign passport holders and the man in the blue shirt was very concerned with where I'm staying. It's the Serena Hotel by the way, very nice, very secure.

You can faintly hear the muezzin from a nearby mosque blending with the clattering air conditioners. It's hot but not unbearably so. The city is quite green and framed by the picturesque Margallah hills.

This is a government town. There are impressive state buildings and not much else. We drove past the Red Mosque, scene of the deadly government siege earlier this summer. It's down the road from a sizeable KFC.

Pakistan is locked in a battle with itself between modern and fundamentalist forces. Religion was fostered here in the 1980s as a means to recruit soldiers for the Afghan war against the Soviets, and the relationship between the military and the mosque has continued.

Now the United States is imploring the Pakistani army to kill the same people it once found useful, and the people here resent it. It has driven down President Musharraf's popularity and most everyone we've met said it is time for Musharraf to go.

The religious influence also means you can't buy single-malt Scotch. Two bottles were requested by a friend here so I picked them up from duty-free at the Abu Dhabi airport. There wasn't much of a selection, but apparently Glenfiddich 12-year is universal.

I might return from Pakistan weighing a ton more. Everyone we meet wants to serve tea and something to eat. During one visit, we had a sandwich of indeterminate variety. During another, fried something. Cookies were served at a third house. Caffeine and crap -- a heck of a combination -- but one indicative of the hospitality here.

The Pakistanis I've met seem eager to share their story and, in most instances, to share how they believe the American government and their own government have erred. This trip has been a peek into the looking glass (and I'm not talking about the band; there's no "brandy" here as we've already discussed).