Pakistan, the likely home of Osama Bin Laden and the safe house for the Taliban forces fighting NATO in Afghanistan, stands on the front line of the war against terror. Yet as recent events have shown, this long-time ally of the US and recipient of $10 billion of American aid in the past decade, is in deepening crisis. As President Pervez Musharraf struggles, with ever-diminishing success, to clint to pwoer through states of emergency and imprisonment of his opponents, a range of forces are attempting to fill the vacuum that surrounds him: the late Benazir Bhitto and Nawaz Sharif, both previous presidents themselves and, Ali argues, still more corrupt than Musharraf himself; a lawyers' movement that has taken to the streets, demanding adherence to the constitution and the rule of law; and the Islamists in Waziristan and the North West Frontier whos increasingly effective assaults on the Pakistan army threaten to tip the country into full-blown civil war.
With customary verve and acuity, Ali parses the prospects for these contending groups, drawing on extensive firsthand research and personal knowledge of many of the key players involved, to assess the causes and consequences of Pakistan's rapid spiral into political chaos.
