The Duel - Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power

Pakistan - the likely home of Osama Bin Laden and 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 struggled, with ever-diminishing success, to cling to power through states of emergency and imprisonment of his opponents, a range of forces attempted to fill the vacuum surrounding him: the husband of the late Benazir Bhutto 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 whose 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 first-hand 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....