Our Global Issues & Ethics Book Group is devoted to discussing books that cover the most relevant topics of our everyday lives. The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power by Tariq Ali is this month book selection. Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world. It is the only Islamic state to have nuclear weapons. Its border with Afghanistan extends over one thousand miles and is the most likely hideout of Osama bin Laden. It was under military dictatorship for thirty-three of its sixty-two-year existence. Yet it is the linchpin in the United States' war on terror. These days, relations between the two countries are never less than tense, and with increasingly bold attacks by Taliban supporters threatening to split the Pakistan army, and the country's new leaders as corrupt as the regime they replaced the chances of sustained stability in Pakistan look slim. Tariq Ali has long been acknowledged as a leading commentator on Pakistan. In these pages he combines deep understanding of the country's history with extensive firsthand research and unsparing political judgment to weigh the prospects of those contending for power today. The labyrinthine path between a secure world and global conflagration runs right through Pakistan. No one is better placed to trace its contours. Mohammed Hanif wrote in The Guardian, "The Duel offers a detailed and impassioned history."