It took then-president Pervez Musharraf three months to forcibly take over the Red Mosque.

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Mr Schmidle, whose father is a general in the American marines, befriended Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the Taliban leader who was killed by the army during the Red Mosque siege in Islamabad in 2007.

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In sum, Pervez Musharraf is facing a challenge to his rule from two sides, the first being from the radical Islamists who have attempted to assassinate the general on more than one occasion and who also challenged government authority at the Red Mosque.

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Look at the Red Mosque.

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"The defendant would request him to lay out his red prayer mat in a different part of the mosque, " he said.

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We circle past a red-painted mosque at the village of Aday and arrive at one of the few Berber houses in the region that is still occupied.

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