The combination of political instability, deep-seated economic and social problems, access to nuclear weapons, and the war in neighbouring Afghanistan have made Pakistan one of the most strategically sensitive countries in the world. Its military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, recently re-elected to a second term as President, is at the centre of global attention. He is the first Pakistani leader in thirty years to dare to confront the country's Islamic extremists. But will he succeed in controlling the forces that helped create the Taliban in Afghanistan and fuelled the bitter conflict in Kashmir? Will his army and intelligence agencies be able to tame the radical elements that they created and sustained?

In this powerful history of Pakistan from 1947 to the present, Bennett Jones describes the many fault lines in Pakistani society. He assesses the role of the nationalists in the provinces, the feudal landlords in the countryside, and the bureaucratic elite in Islamabad and analyses the complex relationships between religion, regional politics and the armed forces.

As a BBC correspondent in Pakistan between 1998 and 2001, Bennett Jones witnessed first hand many of the events that brought General Musharraf to power. This book contains the first detailed accounts of the 1999 coup, the Kargil conflict and how Pakistan came to test its nuclear bomb. It will be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand a country that was crucial to the expulsion of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in the 1980s and which, after the 11 September 2001 attack, became a key coalition partner in America's war against terrorism.

Pakistan is at the centre of global concerns about terrorism, Islamic fundamentalism and nuclear proliferation. In this revealing and riveting account, Owen Bennett Jones explains why Pakistan's stability is vital.