WHERE IN THE WORLD IS—

Pakistan

The sixth most populous country with the second largest Muslim population in the world, it is bordered by India on the east and both Afganistan and Iran on the west. It has a 650 mile coastline along the Arabian Sea to the south and shares a border with China to the northeast.

To give India’s Muslim population their own country, India was partitioned in 1947 creating East and West Pakistan; the former now known as Bangladesh which achieved independence in 1971.

The country has dominated world news recently with the assassination of its popular, former prime minister who was seeking a return to power from years in exile. During the 1980s Pakistan was a crucial ally of the US during the Soviet-Afganistan War then fell into disfavor when she became the only Muslim nuclear weapons state in 1988. She has again been an ally of the US in the war on terrorism in Iraq.

Given her population of over 161 million (more than Russia), her status as a nuclear power and her long history of political instability it is likely she will remain of interest to the US news market.