How close is Pakistan to collapse???

The economic crisis is hurting them....are they going to get the help they need? And, even if they get it, can they stem their political problems???

Democrat Senator John Kerry and Republican former senator Chuck Hagel, now chair of the Atlantic Council think tank, were due to release a formal report on Wednesday appealing for international help to stabilise Pakistan.

"If we fail, we face a truly frightening prospect: Terrorist sanctuary, economic meltdown, and spiralling radicalism, all in a nation with 170 million inhabitants and a full arsenal of nuclear weapons," Mr Kerry said in a statement released by the council.

Mr Kerry, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he and Republican Senator Richard Lugar would soon introduce legislation aiming to provide Pakistan with $7.5bn in non-military aid over five years.

The legislation, known as the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act, would advocate the same amount – which would be triple current US levels of non-military aid – over the next five years, aides said.

The bill would make the aid available on the condition that the US secretary of state certifies that Pakistan's security forces are making concerted efforts to prevent al-Qaeda, associated terrorist groups, and the Taliban, from operating inside Pakistani territory.

The report entitled Needed: A Comprehensive US Policy Towards Pakistan, "calls for an additional 4-5 billion dollars of immediate financial aid for Pakistan to avert an economic meltdown," according to a statement from the council.

"Given the tools and the financing, Pakistan can turn back from the brink. But for that to happen, it needs help now," according to the council.