Frontline Pakistan : the struggle with militant Islam / Zahid Hussain

Critical study of Pakistan under General Musharraf. In the few years since he took control of the country he has been a marked man surviving several assassination attempts. In the post 9/11 era Musharraf sided with the United States in its war on terror not least because he had little choice given a) the US "with us or against us" policy and b) Pakistan's tribal areas and porous border with Afghanistan where Osama bin Laden and other terrorists were thought to be in hiding. This book looks at the inconsistencies and paradoxes of Musharraf's government, vacillations which the Islamists have taken full advantage of. Pakistan now finds itself caught between powerful external forces and large scale internal unrest from the increasingly well armed, well financed and beligerent Jihadis. Factions in the military and security services provide an additional complication, while tensions with India over Kashmir, widespread poverty, corruption, and extreme interpretations of Islamic law also contribute to what the author describes as a nation at war with itself.