• Pakistan blocks cellphone service to millions over terror threat

    By NBC News staff

    Cellphone services in several major urban areas in Pakistan resumed Monday after a 14-hour blackout over concerns of a possible terrorist plot to coincide with the end of the Muslim holy day of Ramadan, news services said.

    Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik ordered services providers to shut down their networks in the southern city of Karachi, the eastern city of Lahore, the central city of Multan and the western city of Quetta around 8:00 p.m. Sunday (11 a.m. ET Sunday) because of concern that cellphones could be used to detonate explosives, Pakistan's Geo News reported.

    On Sunday, Pakistan -- and Muslims worldwide -- celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan. It is traditionally a time when Muslims reach out to connect with relatives on the holiday.

    Up to 25 Shiites killed in Pakistan bus attack

    Karachi, with around 13 million residents, is Pakistan's largest city. Together the four cities affected boast a population of more than 22 million people.


    Malik said the government had been monitoring terrorist threats in several areas on Sunday, Geo news said. Malik said possible terrorist plots were uncovered in Punjab province, of which Lahore is the capital. 

    "The cellular service would be suspended in a surprise manner in the sensitive parts of the country; however, timeframe could not be given," The Dawn newspaper quoted Malik as saying.

    Malik also apologized for any inconvenience caused by the blackout.

    Complete Pakistan coverage on NBCNews.com

    During the effective blackout, parts of Karachi, Lahore and Multan still had partial service. However, cellphone service was suspended completely in Quetta.

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    Network providers turned their services back on Monday after the Interior Department gave them the go-ahead, Pakistan's The News, citing unidentified sources, reported.

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    Malik initially said that services would be allowed to resume at 10:00 a.m. Monday (1 a.m. ET Monday), although it was not immediately clear precisely when services were switched back on.

    Slideshow: Pakistan: A nation in turmoil

    Muhammed Muheisen / AP

    Images of daily life, political pursuits, religious rites and deadly violence.

    Launch slideshow

    Problems with extremism
    Pakistan has suffered from a number of terrorist incidents in recent years and the cities affected by the cellphone blackout have been wracked with violence. Parts of the country have also been hotbeds of Islamist extremism.

    Complete World news coverage on NBCNews.com

    Various groups have been blamed for attacks on Pakistani security forces, as well as across the border in India and in Afghanistan, where coalition forces are often targeted by Taliban-aligned militants operating out of bases in Pakistan.

    Many other militant groups operate in Pakistan, including factions fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, separatists demanding greater share of the income from generated from natural resources in various provinces, and other violent factions targeting minority Shiite Muslims.

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  • Iraqis unable to defend their borders as US exits

     

    Khalid Mohammed / AP, file

    An Iraqi Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) team walks with their U.S.-made explosives ordinance disposal robots during a parade in Baghdad, Iraq on Nov. 22.

    By The Associated Press

    BAGHDAD - After billions of dollars and nearly nine years of training, American troops are leaving behind an Iraqi security force arguably capable of providing internal security but unprepared to defend the nation against foreign threats at a time of rising tensions throughout the Middle East.

    Building up an Iraqi military and police able to protect the country became a key goal of the United States and its allies after they defeated and then disbanded the Saddam Hussein-era force in 2003. As America's role in Iraq fades, the results appear at best incomplete.

    Iraqi forces — currently about 700,000 strong — have been largely responsible for security in Baghdad and other cities since 2009, carrying out their own raids and other combat operations against insurgents.

     

    More than 10,000 Iraqi soldiers and police have been killed since the new force was established — more than double the number of American military deaths. Few if any military forces in the Arab world have as much combat experience within the ranks.

    "They can kick a door in and knock out a network's leadership as good as anybody I've seen," said U.S. Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen, commander of the NATO training mission, which will soon be disbanded. "I would say that they have the discipline and the tenacity to fight as well as anybody I've ever seen."

    Rock Center Special Correspondent Ted Koppel first traveled to Iraq nearly nine years ago as the 3rd Infantry Division crossed from Kuwait into Iraq. As the U.S. military prepares to finish withdrawing from the country by the end of December, Koppel reflects on his latest visit to the country.

    Nevertheless, Iraqi forces have their work cut out for them. They will be operating in a country which, although quieter than a few years ago, saw more people killed, wounded and kidnapped last year than in Afghanistan, according to U.S. figures.

    The departure of American forces this month also leaves Iraq vulnerable to threats from its neighbors — Iran to the east, Turkey to the north and Syria to the west. A major Arab country of about 30 million people with some of the world's largest proven petroleum reserves is incapable of defending its borders in one of the most unstable parts of the world.

    The Iraqi military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Babaker Zebari, has said it would take until at least 2020 for Iraq to defend its airspace. Without a well-trained and equipped air force, Iraqi ground forces would be hard-pressed to defend against incursions across borders with few natural barriers and little cover from vegetation.

    In Iraq's oil rich southern region, the United States is building a massive consulate in Basra. The consulate is situated just miles from Iraq's border with Iran. One security officer says it's like building a consulate on Omaha Beach. Some of the 1,320 people who work there call it "Fort Apache." If Iranian backed militias were to launch a full scale attack on this consulate, would the U.S. military ride to the rescue? Ted Koppel reports.

    "An army without an air force is exposed," Zebari was quoted as saying in a report last October by the U.S. agency responsible for overseeing Iraqi reconstruction.

    Even though a full-scale ground invasion from its neighbors may seem remote, the possibility of incursions from Turkey against Kurdish rebels, or Iranians along disputed border stretches or even from a Syria facing an internal revolt cannot be ruled out, especially at a time when the Arab Spring and the looming showdown between the West and Iran are raising tensions throughout the region.

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