From WNYKRC in New York, this is NPR's On the Media. I'm Bob Garfield.

And I'm Brooke Gladstone. In Pakistan, often described as our most important partner in the

War on Terror, anti-American sentiment has never been greater. And this month's elections suggest

that growing anger against the United States is changing the political complexion of that

nation. Pakistan's Islamic religious parties, which usually occupy a handful of seats in the

National Assembly, captured 50, becoming the third largest party and a force to reckon with.

Anti-Americanism has deep roots in Pakistan, but steadily fanning the flames is the Pakistani press,

with fuel provided in part by leaders of the American Christian right. For instance, when the Reverend

Jerry Falwell called Muhammad a terrorist on the CBS program 60 Minutes. Professor Akbar Ahmed

teaches Islamic Studies in American University in Washington, D.C.,

and he joins us now. Professor Ahmed, welcome back to the show. Thank you. Nice to be back.

How widely covered were the remarks of Jerry Falwell and similar remarks by the Reverend Franklin Graham,

son of Billy, and also the Reverend Jerry Vines, the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, who called

Muhammad a demon-possessed pedophile. Did you see these all over the front pages of all the papers?

Yes, they were being reported both in the English press and in the Urdu press, that is the main Pakistani language, Urdu.

And Pakistanis were feeling that their prophet was under attack, Islam was under attack, and

both these attacks were coming from the United States, and these are supposed to be men

of God.

Pakistanis in particular tend to be very, very sensitive.

And if you remember the agitation against Salwan Rishdi and his book,

The Satanic Verses, actually started in Pakistan and people were killed in Islamabad. So the reaction

was, we must then give the vote to those people who will defend Islam. And the people who are

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