Originally published: 2008.

Includes Index

Pakistan at sixty : a conflagration of despair -- Rewinding Pakistan : birth of tragedy -- The Washington quartet : the man who would be field marshal -- The Washington quartet : the general who lost a country -- The Washington quartet : the soldier of Islam -- The Washington quartet : the general as chief executive -- The house of Bhutto : daughter of the West -- On the flight path of American power -- Operation Enduring Freedom : mirage of the "good: war -- Can Pakistan be recycled?

Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world, the only Islamic state to have nuclear weapons, under military dictatorship for 33 of its 50 years in existence. Its 1000-mile border with Afghanistan is the likely hideout of Osama bin Laden--yet it is the linchpin in the United States' war on terror. With increasingly bold attacks by Taliban supporters in the border regions threatening to split the Pakistan army, with the only political alternatives as corrupt as the regime they seek to replace, and with a newly radicalized movement of lawyers testing its strength as champions of the rule of law, the chances of sustained stability in Pakistan look slim. Tariq Ali, long acknowledged as a leading commentator on Pakistan, combines deep understanding of the country with extensive firsthand research and unsparing political judgment to weigh the prospects of those contending for power today.--From publisher description.