Pakistan : a hard country / Anatol Lieven.

“Lieven’s eye for detail, command of subcontinental history, and old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting make this…an excellent primer on Pakistan”—cover page.

“In the Past decade Pakistan has become a country of immense importance to its region, the United States, and the world. With almost 200 million people, a 500,000-man army, nuclear weapons, a large Diaspora in Britain and North America, and a growing Jihadi movement, it has become a hotbed of global security issues…”—back cover.

Includes bibliographical references.

Contents: List of illustrations—Acknowledgements—List of acronyms—Maps—Part one : land, people and history—1. Introduction : understanding paksitan (p. 3)—2. The struggle for Muslim South Asia (p. 41)—Part two : structures—3. Justice (p. 83)—4. Religion (p. 124)—5. The military (p. 161)—6. Politics (p. 204)—Part three : the provinces—7. Punjab (p. 259)—8. Sindh (p. 302)—9. Balochistan (p. 339)—10. The pathans (p. 371)—Part five : the Taleban—11. The Pakistani Taleban (p. 405)—12. Defeating the Taleban? (p. 442)—Conclusions (p. 477)—Afterword to the paperback edition (p. 482)—Notes (p. 489)—Books consulted (p. 502)—Glossary (p. 512)—Appendix one : chronology of Muslim South Asia (p. 515)—Appendix two : statistics (p. 524)—Index (p. 527)—Photo insert between pages 256-257.