L.A. Times - Middle East

Pakistan's film industry is in collapse

Sun, 8 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Lollywood, a once-robust movie-making machine, has fallen victim to religious-based government policies, cable TV and DVD piracy.

The Odeon Cinema's creaky, ripped red vinyl seats are mostly empty except for a couple of back rows where a dozen Pakistani men sit slouched, their eyes half-open, legs slung over the seats in front of them. Along the hall's bubble-gum pink walls, rows of fans barely move the hot, dank air. The Odeon's loudspeakers crackle like a ham radio.

Army Pfc. Justin Casillas, 19, Dunnigan; killed while carrying wounded soldier

Sun, 8 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Pierce High graduate had talked about joining the military since he was a young child. He said his years playing football prepared him mentally for armed service.

Memories of Justin Casillas have taken on new meaning lately for those who knew him: The time he took responsibility for a broken locker and the way he once fearlessly climbed into the rafters to help build a roof. And that night in high school when he nearly got the football across the goal line despite an injury.

Afghanistan: Marines bring some calm in Helmand

Sun, 8 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

But many residents in the insurgent heartland fear the U.S. troops may leave abruptly, leaving the area for the Taliban to retake.

When 500 U.S. Marines descended on this Taliban stronghold overnight, Afghan civilians were immediately suspicious about the intentions of the heavily armed Americans.

Fort Hood shooting suspect endured 'big pressure,' uncle says

Sun, 8 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The uncle says Nidal Malik Hasan was a sensitive man who faced ethnic taunts and was haunted by soldiers' wartime disabilities. Hasan was not political, his relatives in the West Bank say.

When Rafik Ismail Hamad last traveled from the West Bank to visit relatives in the United States, he was struck by the pressures one of his nephews was facing.

Afghanistan government says foreign officials are interfering

Sun, 8 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Afghan Foreign Ministry says a U.N. envoy's demands 'violated respect for Afghanistan's national sovereignty.' A NATO airstrike that killed Afghan soldiers and police threatens to worsen tensions.

President Hamid Karzai's government lashed out Saturday at his foreign critics, accusing a top U.N. official and other international figures of interfering in Afghanistan's internal affairs.

Military deaths

Sun, 8 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Defense Department last week identified the following American military personnel killed in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait:

In Pakistan's South Waziristan, hopes that Taliban's exit will bring progress

Sat, 7 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Though villagers tolerate the militants, many of them fellow Mahsud tribesmen, they welcome the Pakistani offensive, hoping it will help bring basic infrastructure to the isolated region.

The Mahsud tribesmen of South Waziristan don't hate the Taliban. But they hate what having Taliban fighters living among them has done to life in their mud-hut hamlets.

In Afghanistan, troops attacked while searching for U.S. soldiers

Sat, 7 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

More than 25 international and Afghan troops are injured in the fighting. The two American paratroopers have been missing since Wednesday.

More than 25 members of international and Afghan security forces were injured Friday in firefights in northwestern Afghanistan during a large-scale manhunt for two missing American soldiers, military officials said.

Army psychiatrist blamed in Fort Hood shooting rampage

Fri, 6 Nov 2009 02:34:00 -0800

The suspect, stable after being shot himself, is accused of killing 13 and wounding 30 at the Texas Army base. It's not clear whether he is the author of inflammatory comments on the Web.

Reporting from Ft. Hood, Texas, Washington and Los Angeles -- An Army psychiatrist who was about to be deployed to Iraq allegedly armed himself with two guns and opened fire Thursday afternoon on the grounds of Ft. Hood, the country's largest military base, killing 12 people and injuring 31 others.

Obama faces competing demands on Afghanistan strategy

Fri, 6 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The president must heed domestic pressure that any military buildup be limited while convincing Afghan and Pakistani officials that the U.S. commitment is firm.

As President Obama struggles over a new military strategy for Afghanistan, his advisors are trying to satisfy sharply divergent demands: assuring Americans that any military buildup will be limited while convincing Pakistan and other wary allies that the U.S. presence is substantial and not about to end.