There's a reason they aren't ruled by the Chinese, Russians, Indians, or anyone else.

The Pakistanis are sort of Pakistanis, as long as the central government doesn't try anything foolish, like trying to govern the rural areas.

The Afghans are sort of Afghanis, and they will let the central government do whatever it wants, as long as it doesn't try to exercise any influence in their tribal areas.

These folks are independent. They make the Confederacy, with it's emphasis on States Rights, seem like the centralized authority of the former USSR.

A problem is that the military dictatorship of Pakistan doesn't seem to be all that stable or popular. Among the dissidents, who thrive in the outlying areas, people who don't like the US are thick. Even with $25 million on his head, OBL seems to be residing there. For 25 cents I'll dress up my dog in an Osama suit, and turn him in - for $25 million I'd give up the real thing in a second.

Grim.

And the Pakistanis have nukes. God help everyone if those get into the black market. Kinda hope GWB doesn't put the screws into that country so hard it the political chaos which is just below the surface takes over.

I doubt the US is willing or has the force to guarantee the security of those weapons against determined local forces, even assuming the good guys could "get there fustest with the most men". A siege against the relatively small force the US could put in would seem to be a slam dunk, given how close modern weapons are for the Paks and how far away reinforcements would be for the good guys.

Arf