Breaking News: Tim Walz in Pakistan and Afghanistan

For those readers who have wondered why there hasn't  been a congressional forum (or five or six) in the First this week, Congressman Walz has been overseas as part of a congressional travel delegation.  We just listened in on a press call from Pakistan, and will be posting about it as soon as we write up our notes.

Update: Walz also spent two days in Afghanistan.  Several readers have emailed us to tell us that MPR has reported that Walz is back from his travels. This isn't the case, but we aren't listening to MPR right now, so we can't comment on the exact content of its broadcast.

Update #2: The Post Bulletin's Ed Flecker has more at the PB's Political  Party blog in Walz: Visit to a "very tense" Pakistan.

Update #3: Yep, the same MPR reporter who thought that Gutknecht's  perfectly combed hair would be an important factor in the 2006 election reports Rep. Walz returns from visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan. No, he hasn't; we were part of the press call.  Ed Felker at the PB's Political Party blog has it right:

Democratic Rep. Tim Walz of Mankato held a conference call with reporters this afternoon to talk about his four-day visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan. . . .

. . .He could not discuss when he will return or any other stops due to security restrictions. The House returns to work this coming week and his staff said he will be in Washington for votes.

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[MinnesotaCentral]

The Post Bulletin wrote : Walz said he was not calling for an increase in troop deployments in Afghanistan. However, he called for more military support from NATO countries and said the administration must beef up redevelopment teams if security is to improve.

Bad News : U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expected to approve a request from NATO for the additional 3,000 Marines, who would be up and running by April to assist the alliance's International Security Assistance Force in southern Afghanistan.
So, although Walz may want more assistance from NATO, DOD seems to be willing to send more troops as other countries are not holding up their commitments.

I am not sure how successful Walz was in pressing the madrassa question with Religious Affairs Minister Attaullah Khan as Pakistan’s Hindustan Times reports President Pervez Musharraf has advised authorities to leave the third phase of integrating seminary students into the general system for the next government.

Bloggers and people who believe in the value of a Free Press should be concerned with how Pakistan is controlling the media. Nicholas Schmidle who wrote a critical article in last week’s New York Times magazine was deported on Friday.