ISLAMABAD - Nuclear-armed Pakistan is drifting toward disaster. Ever larger chunks of the country are being taken over by radical Islamists, with a government and army that seem to lack the will, or the ability, to push back.
These Islamists - a network of Pakistani Taliban, tribal groups, jihadis trained to fight in Afghanistan and Kashmir, and plain thugs - are not all-powerful. They could have been stopped. They could still be stopped.
But that would require a government with sufficient legitimacy and guts to stand up to the militants - and to convince a confused public that these groups threaten the state.
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