From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Is Pakistan ripe for an Islamic revolution?

Hello again, I'm Mormon Al-Ni, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most. Taliban-style militants are assuming control in Pakistan's northwest provinces, openly

promising to take over the rest of the country. Despite brutal enforcement of Islamic law,

the secular government seems powerless against determined radicals exploiting poverty,

class hatreds, and decades of corruption.

The U.S. has vital interests

in a region where both Pakistan

and India have nuclear arms.

Today, we'll hear mounting concern

about instability

with international consequences.

On reporter's notebook later on,

does Dick Cheney still speak for Republicans?

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D. and

Catherine T. McArthur Foundation. Hello again, Warman Alany, back with To the Point.

Recent events in Pakistan have increased alarm that a country with nuclear weapons is vulnerable to a Taliban-style Islamist revolution.

We'll talk with Pakistanis and with American experts.

On reporter's notebook, breaking a post-White House tradition of silence, Dick Cheney won't

keep his voice down.

...