South Asia experts warn that Pakistan -- recently dubbed "the new center of the war against terrorism" -- could become the world's first nuclear-armed "failed state." The Muslim country's new president faces a spike in terrorist bombings, rising Islamic fundamentalism, a weakened democracy and a faltering economy. Already, more people have been killed in suicide bombings in Pakistan during the first eight months of 2008 than in Iraq or Afghanistan. And Indian authorities suspect that Islamic terrorists from Pakistan-controlled Kashmir perpetrated last week's Mumbai terrorist attacks that killed 173 people. Another challenge for President Asif Ali Zardari and his relatively young nation: growing resentment about recent U.S. military incursions into terrorist-infested Pakistani tribal territories. Although the country has weathered many storms since its founding in 1947, experts wonder if recent developments threaten its survival. As the new administration tries to hold the disparate nation together, a strong military -- with a long history of usurping civilian rule -- is poised to take over once again. The world watches with growing concern to see if the fragile democracy can survive or if Pakistan -- with its nuclear arsenal -- will devolve into chaos.

Robert Kiener is an award-winning writer whose work has appeared in the London Sunday Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Post, Reader's Digest, Time Life Books, Asia Inc. and other publications. For more than two decades he lived and worked as an editor and correspondent in Guam, Hong Kong, England and Canada and is now based in the United States. He frequently travels to Asia to report on international issues. He holds a M.A. in Asian Studies from Hong Kong University and an M.Phil. in International Relations from Cambridge University.