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

Pakistan's leadership crisis and nuclear weapons.

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

A daily look at the issues, Americans care about most. Benazir Bhutto warned Pervez Musharraf she was marked for assassination. Musharraf told her

to delay her return from exile. Then last night's bombing turned a festival into a tragedy,

killing almost 150 people and wounding hundreds more. Now, recriminations are fueling uncertainties about the political deals between Musharraf and Buto,

deals already being challenged in court.

On to the point, dangerous instability in a crucial American ally.

Did concern for the alliance allow Pakistan to become a nuclear power and illegally spread the technology. What can the U.S.

do now? 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. MacArthur

Foundation. Hello again, Mormon-Aulney. Back with To the Point. Last night's deadly bombing has

dramatized political instability in Pakistan, a crucial American ally, despite a record of

nuclear proliferation. On To the Point, did the U.S. allow Pakistan to become a nuclear power

and engage in illegal weapons

trade? What can be done now? First, this update. After midnight last night, two bomb blasts,

disrupted Benazir Bhutto's triumphant return to Pakistan after eight years in exile. Almost 150

people were killed and hundreds more injured. Here's the former prime minister at a news conference this morning.

This was a dastardly and cowardly attack,

the first in the history of subcontinent,

as first in the history of Pakistan,

...