Ottawa

Pakistan slides closer to hell

Nothing is more dangerous than a nuclear-armed state on the brink of violent failure

Remember the Swat Valley, where the Pakistan government traded Sharia law for peace with the Taliban? The Taliban have used their new secure Swat base as a staging ground for their assault on Buner, the province next door — and that much closer to Islamabad. (Gee, if only somebody had seen this coming. Say, somebody like our own Adnan Khan, with a fantastic cover story in Maclean’s three weeks ago.) Hillary Clinton accuses the Pak regime of “basically abdicating to the extremists.” The man who had hoped to land her job wonders whether Clinton and Obama have any real plan for Pakistan. Three weeks ago I concocted an apocalyptic scenario that does not seem less likely today. Nothing in the world is more dangerous than what’s happening right now in Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state on the brink of violent failure. That’s why Canada’s Parliament will hold a thoughtful debate about the situation tomorrow. You’re right, I’m just kidding about that last part.

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