BREAKING NEWS: American Journalist Nicholas Schmidle Deported From Pakistan

An American journalist, Nicholas Schmidle, who authored the article "Next Gen Taliban" that appeared in Sunday's New York Times Magazine has been deported from Pakistan. He was forced to leave today -- Friday, 11 January.

Schmidle will be returning to Washington, DC on Saturday and will be joining a panel I am moderating Monday afternoon titled "Pakistan in Peril" featuring veteran journalists and Pakistan-watchers Steve Coll and Peter Bergen as well as former Bush administration National Security Council senior official Flynt Leverett. Nicholas Schmidle will now be part of this panel.

Schmidle was informed that the Ministry of Interior was deporting him for unspecified reasons, but his speculation is that he was expelled because of his article which The Washington Note highlighted on Wednesday, 2 January -- before it came out on Sunday.

These are the latest dispatches that Schmidle has published in Slate.

Other journalists I have spoken to today tell me that there is a pattern of intimidation of journalists clearly emerging in Pakistan. While this may be the first deportation of an American journalist that most can recall, there have been other troubling incidents.

New America Foundation fellow and journalist Eliza Griswold was apparently held in custody by Pakistan authorities on one occasion. CNN Terrorism Analyst and New America Foundation senior fellow Peter Bergen was denied a visa on one occasion in 2006 with no explanation given. Nir Rosen -- also a New America Foundation fellow who has reported extensively on Middle East affairs -- was threatened in Quetta, Pakistan by what some believe to be government "goons" and was told that he needed to leave immediately or he would be "the next Danny Pearl." New York Times correspondent Carlotta Gall was beaten by thugs who identified themselves as Pakistani police.

Some believe that Schmidle's article antogonized Pakistani government officials because he conducted interviews in Quetta where the Taliban are operating in full public. These sources suggest that Pakistan government authorities want to limit exposure to the fact that they have done nothing to shut down the Taliban in Quetta and/or are turning a blind eye to the Taliban's operations theres.

For those in the Washington, DC area -- the event I will be moderating with Schmidle, Coll, Bergen, and Leverett will be from 2:30 pm til 4:00 pm on Monday, 14 January at the offices of the New America Foundation. A video clip will be posted later to the New America Foundation website.

-- Steve Clemons publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note

Comments

[Zenobius]

It's not surprising that the Pakistan government wants to prevent reporters from filing stories like the one Schmidle reported in the NY Times Magazine. After all, that story could be read as a claim that we cannot trust Musharraf's regime to fight the Taliban, who are well established and looking for a fight themselves. This could lead to either reduction of military aid to Pakistan's army or the US launching raids into the NWFP and FATA themselves. For obvious reasons, Mush does not want either of these.

For equally obvious reasons, the US needs every competent Urdu speaking reporter in Pakistan it can get. Also, for news on Pakistan, I read Dawn News, Daily Times of Pakistan, The News and the Frontier Post. All of these are in English, and I encourage others to read them.

If you want ro read more from me, I have a blog, mostly on news from Pakistan nowadays, at: http://rememberjenkinsear.blogspot.com/

[willyloman]

Conyers does NOT care about Wexler’s Petition to start Cheney impeachment hearings!

Read the transcript from Democracy Now.

http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2007/12/22/from-democracy-now-interview-with-conyers-he-doesnt-care-about-wexlers-petition/

View the video of his speech from September.

http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2008/01/12/john-conyers-on-the-topic-of-impeachment/

He will NOT allow impeachment hearings to take place.

Conyers knows that Pelosi will undercut the efforts of impeachment rather than helping to build a bi-partisan coalition to impeach.

Conyers knows that Pelosi will again be Speaker of the House next year and she will take him off the Judiciary Committee if he goes against her wishes. It’s a “lose-lose” for him and impeachment.

Let’s help him and the rest of the members of the House of Representatives by removing an obstructionist Speaker. It can be done and must be done to start the impeachment process.

http://www.petitiononline.com/everyman/petition.html

[Driver125]

Well, it might be a good idea to start from the perspective that we do not own Pakistan. Yes, they take a lot of our money. Hardly a surprise, as I can't help but think that in their position (a poor, needy country) that they would apply the concept to us that a rich fool and his money will soon be parted, so why not take it. But it clearly has not brought us the results or even the kind of influence there that we would have hoped for. Nor will it ever. Not to dwell on the obvious, but Pakistan is Muslim--that being the whole reason they separated from India in the first place. Their view of the Taliban and al Qaeda will always be at odds with ours. And the idea that they might engage their fellow Muslims militarily was probably just another instance of the suckers in the Bush administration getting played once again. Would it be impossible to convince a country like Pakistan that a united front against terrorism might be advantageous to all? No, it would not be impossible. But it would have to be done by a country with a higher moral and practical standing than ours, one who did not have the stain of something like Iraq in their recent past.

[kirotahoe]

his deportation should serve as a call to other journalists to go to pakistan. obviously pakistanis are sensative to the press and therefore the press probably has more power inside pakistan to shape events than the u.s. state dept. i think very few people are aware of just how important this country is to the state of the world. a truly free press is the delight of the world.it keeps us safe from extreemist views. i worry about the state of the american press, and how the main stream media is consolidated into so few hands. we should be so grateful for the web and the small amount of censorship that exists.