Pakistan before the election

Here's a link to the column I wrote for the Register a day or two before the election in Pakistan. I thought it summed up the situation fairly well. As to the American interest in Pakistan, I wrote that there are two -- making sure that Pakistan's nuclear weapons are secure and there's little or no danger that terrorists could grab one or gain control of them, and hoping that the resurgent Taliban and al-Qaida forces in the Northwest Provinces can be neutralized or contained. That doesn't require huge subsidies or U.S. troops or trainers. The election results show that jihadists in Pakistan command almost no support among the people, although small bands of determined people can certainly be mightily disruptive.