Paperback review: Pakistan on the Brink, By Ahmed Rashid

This serious-minded book – not as fatalistic as its title – is just as much about Afghanistan as it is about Pakistan.

Its central argument revolves around the belief that while this beleaguered nation is teetering on the edge of a precipice, the situation is salvageable. For Rashid, this is also the case for Afganistan.

Holding Turkey up as an example of how a previously volatile state can turn itself around, he thinks Pakistan can do the same if it lets go of its paranoia, while Afghanistan’s solution is a regional one.