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

Religious violence and political turmoil in Pakistan.

Hello again, I'm Aronaldi, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

The daily look at the issues, Americans care about most.

President Obama's plan to cut troops in Iraq and beef up forces in Afghanistan cannot succeed

without neighboring Pakistan. But the world's second largest Muslim nation, a nuclear power,

is increasingly unstable with potentially dangerous consequences for American interests.

Now Pakistan's weak central government has set off a political firestorm

by making a deal with the Taliban whose influence is spreading.

We'll hear the pros and cons of the treaty and talk with an American philanthropist

who has built 78 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan

and now advises the U.S. Army.

Our reporter's notebook later on, the Obama budget as a political gamble. First, 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, the John D. and Catherine

T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Skoll Foundation, supporting social entrepreneurs around the world,

uncommon heroes dedicated to the common good. Learn more at Skoll.org. Hello again, Mormon-Aulni,

back with To the Point. More U.S. troops will go to Afghanistan to fight insurgents based often in Pakistan.

Today, we'll hear about Pakistan's deal with Muslim extremists and will ask best-selling author Greg Mortensen of three cups of tea what he's telling the U.S. military about the remote provinces of both countries.

On reporter's notebook, Ronald Reagan changed the direction of politics

in America. Can Barack Obama do the same? First, this news update. Today, in his first speech to a

military audience, President Obama told Marines at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, his greatest honor is

...