With Bin Laden dead, Pakistan threatened by internal power struggles, relationships between the United States and Pakistan at an all-time low, and as the US and Britain begin their withdrawal from Afghanistan, what are the possibilities - and hazards - facing the world's most unstable region?

Now, as Washington and the rest of the West wrestle with negotiating with unreliable and unstable 'allies' in Pakistan, there is no better guide to the future than Ahmed Rashid. In his follow-up to the acclaimed Descent into Chaos, Rashid focuses on the long-term problems: the changing casts of characters, the future of international terrorism, the policies and strategies both within Pakistan and Afghanistan and among the Western allies. Pakistan on the Brink offers sensible solutions and provides a way forward for all countries involved.