How Pakistan Failed Itself

Beset by feckless leadership and a muddled sense of identity, the country is now plunging into chaos. Why a culture of blame is helping the extremists win

Alixandra Fazzina for TIME

Paramilitary rangers keep watch on apartments in Karachi suspected of harboring Taliban militants. In the past 18 months, hundreds of terrorist attacks have taken place in Pakistan.

In the Himalayan resort town of Nathiagali, a party is under way. Ice clinks in tumblers and corks pop while the conversation — an amalgam of English and Urdu that is the mark of Pakistan's élite — flows from meditation techniques to a heated debate over a U.S. politician's warning that Pakistan is on the brink of collapse. The hostess, Rifat Haye, 54, is one of two female pilots with the national airline and is celebrating her promotion to captain. She wears jeans. Her hair is streaked with blond, and a diamond nose stud glints in the sun, as...

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