Pakistani troops travel to the site of a US air strike in North Waziristan. Pakistan faces a "perfect storm" of crises, with its US-backed fight against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban faltering and the country lurching towards bankruptcy, analysts and opposition figures say. (AFP/File/Tariq Mahmood)Multiple Crises Send Pakistan To The Brink
-- Yahoo News/AFP
-- Yahoo News/AFP
ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Pakistan faces a "perfect storm" of crises, with its US-backed fight against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban faltering and the country lurching towards bankruptcy, analysts and opposition figures say.
Dramatic developments over the past week on both the security and economic fronts underscored more clearly than ever the massive challenges facing the fragile government of the world's only nuclear-armed Islamic nation.
First the International Monetary Fund announced on Wednesday that Islamabad had sought a politically unpopular rescue package to give the country the four billion dollars it needs to avoid defaulting on its foreign debts.
Parliament meanwhile ended a historic two-week session by passing a unanimous resolution that called for an "urgent review" of Pakistan's role in the "war on terror" and for fresh talks with militant leaders.
"Pakistan is truly at a crossroads," Talat Masood, a leading security analyst and retired Pakistan army general, told AFP.
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My Comment: The financial crisis that has been with Pakistan since the beginning of the year is now translating into a crisis both politically and militarily. This is the perfect storm for Pakistan now.