Islam, Jihad and the American Presence

[Medusa]

I need to expose my ignorance here.

I was listening to NPR this morning where one of their reporters had gone and interviewed a shopkeeper in Pakistan. The shop keeper talked about how he had been intimidated by funamentalist extremists in the marketplace and about how many of the shopkeepers had been closed down for various reasons.
This lead to a discussion of the assasination of Pakistani Governor Salman Taseer and how the man who had confessed to killing him was being heralded as a hero by "many young lawyers who had showered him with rose petals" in the courtroom. The man apparently shot him because he felt that Governor Salman had committed blasphemy against Islam.

I read up a little on the blasphemy laws because I am pretty ignorant about Jihad, Islam, and the religious environment in Pakistan. Needless to say, I have a few questions and would love to hear what other folks have to say.

There were a couple of interviews from folks in Pakistan about how the America consistently blasphemes Islam and shows no respect. There was also a lot of discussion about how the American presence had actually fueled an uptick in Jihad extremism, etc.

I'm curious. With the current religious environment in Pakistan, can we draw a parallel between religious extremism there and the current political and religious environment here? Can we view the assassination on Governor Taseer as a manifestation of the 'religious environment' or should we view this in the same way we viewed the killings in Arizona, as an insulated incident?

Thoughts?