US continues to monitor the situation in Pakistan

The United States said on Thursday that it continues to monitor the situation in Pakistan and has bought airtime on Pakistani TV to convey President Barack Obama's message about his administration's views on the anti-Islam movie. "There were large protests in Islamabad today involving some tens of thousands of people. There was some limited violence, but the protestors have been now pushed back away from the diplomatic enclave", said State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland in a press briefing. "We are, obviously, continuing to monitor the situation closely. Cooperation with the Pakistanis on security has been good, and we will continue to work closely with Pakistani authorities to ensure the safety of our facilities and personnel", she added. Nuland noted that U.S. consulates today in Lahore, Karachi, and Peshawar were closed while U.S. embassy in Islamabad remained open. Yet, all of U.S. missions in Pakistan will be closed tomorrow "because the Pakistanis have declared a national holiday". "We are making decisions on mission posture on a daily basis. Embassies are evaluating and mission staffs are evaluating their posture on a daily basis", she added. Even though the travel warning to Pakistan has been a place for some time, the U.S. mission to Pakistan updated this travel warning yesterday after recent protests across the region in reaction to the anti-Islam movie. Nuland noted that "it is common and traditional to have to buy airtime on Pakistani TV for public service announcements. So in that environment, it was their recommendation that we buy some airtime to make sure that the Pakistani people would heard the President's messages and the Secretary's messages, so we did purchase some time, is my understanding, on Pakistani TV stations". "This was a short message; it includes the U.S. seal to make it clear that it is official, and it also includes a notice that the ads were paid..in order to ensure we reached the largest number of Pakistanis -- some 90 million, it was the judgment that this was the best way to do it", she concluded.