Trouble in Pakistan

I’m more concerned that Pakistan has a nuclear weapon and an unstable “moderate” government than I am that Iran has a stable extremist government and no nuclear weapon (yet). With Al Qaeda Central operating in the the hinterlands and, more important, with some of the generals who run the intelligence (ISI) radical Salafist sympathizers, it’s been clear for years that Pakistan is one bullet away from becoming an unstable extremist government with a nuclear weapon. And things seem to be getting worse: This assassination and the weekend rioting in Karachi may be very significant. A people’s movement for justice may well compel a military backlash.
…Which is why we need a serious discussion about the rebalancing of U.S. foreign security obsessions north and east from the I-countries (Iraq and Iran) to the stans (Afghani and Paki).