Dateline Pakistan:
Here’s an alarming thought: Pakistan is in even scarier shape than most of the so-called experts are willing to admit.
This nuclear-armed state of 168 million is no stranger to political upheaval, of course. But this time, things are different. Today’s ongoing crisis — marked by a rash of suicide bombings, the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto last December, inflation as high as 25 percent and a resurgent Taliban movement — could spell doom for the Pakistani state itself. The global financial crisis has only made matters worse: Pakistan’s foreign-exchange reserves are collapsing, and credit markets are worried that it could soon default on its debt payments. The grim truth is that Pakistan is becoming something alarmingly close to a failed state. And that could have disastrous consequences for the United States, NATO and Afghanistan’s struggle to hold back its own Taliban insurgency.
(…)
Simply put, Pakistan is facing an existential crisis — on its streets and in its courts, barracks and parliament. American pundits and politicians might be hoping for the best for the country whose lawless border regions are widely thought to harbor Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders. But I don’t see much chance of a happy turnaround. If, as both John McCain and Barack Obama have claimed, a strong, dependable Pakistan is the key to winning the war in Afghanistan, then we are waging an unwinnable war.
It’s a story like this that makes you wish for the happy carefree days of the Cold War.
