The anti-American mood in Pakistan appears to be shifting after Pakistanis have watched the US efforts on behalf of earthquake relief in the country. Turns out the region hit hardest by the quake is known as the epicenter of Pakistan’s extremist population—the northern section of the country that borders Afghanistan and is filled with training camps prepping militants. But the enormous and highly visible airlift effort by US forces to deliver relief supplies, according to the Christian Science Monitor, has provided anecdotal evidence that America may have pulled an image coup. “They are really helping us a lot,” said Bashir Ayub, an Islamabad medical evacuee tells CSM. “A lot of people here don’t understand that they really aren’t that bad.”
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.