"Barney, put yer paw on this here map. Pick a country." "Woof" "Afgan...agfanis...I can't pronounce that. Pick another." "Woof!" "Eye-rack. That's easier. Remember how long it took me to say Kennebunkville? Want a pretzel?"
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Along the Afghan border, not far from this northwestern city, Islamic militants have used a firm foothold over the past year to train and dispatch suicide bombers against American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
But in recent weeks the suicide bombers have turned on Pakistan itself, carrying out six attacks and killing 35 people. Militant leaders have threatened to unleash scores more, in effect opening a new front in their war.
Diplomats and concerned residents see the bombings as proof of a spreading "Talibanization," as Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, calls it, which has seeped into more settled districts of Pakistan from the tribal areas along the border, where the Taliban and Al Qaeda have made a home.