Pakistan 'perilously close' to becoming a failed state

This wouldn't be the first time someone's called Pakistan a failed state. AFP

NEW DELHI (AFP) — Pakistan is "perilously close" to becoming a failed state and is already "pretty dysfunctional," a senior Indian government official has said.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram also voiced fears that the rise of the Taliban in neighbouring Pakistan could have a spillover effect on India.

"I do not think it (Pakistan) is a failed state but if it does not arrest the decline, it is perilously close to becoming one," he said in an interview on India's CNN-IBN network to be aired late Monday.

"It is pretty dysfunctional today," Chidambaram said.[...]

He added that the rise of the Taliban in Pakistan "will encourage fundamentalists in India to imitate them, and number two the Taliban could become a sponsor of terror in India."