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PAKISTAN IS being drawn inexorably into the war in neighbouring Afghanistan, as both sides there escalate that conflict beyond its borders. Last Saturday's car bomb attack on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, which killed 53 people and wounded at least 200, is a stark warning to the new president Asif Ali Sardari of how potent a threat he faces.

He is under pressure from sections of the armed forces and the United States to take much more robust action against the Taliban and al-Qaeda alliance in the border regions with Afghanistan. It is a real dilemma, with risks both ways, because the long-term strategy required to prosecute such a war successfully could split Pakistan apart.