Pakistan's future is exceedingly difficult to predict; the state may fail or fragment. Questions abound: the uncertain ability of President Musharraf to maintain his power, the unpredictability of the election cycle, the untested judgment of the new Army Chief of Staff, the shift of global jihadi volunteers from Iraq to the northwest border sanctuaries of Pakistan, and the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons. Faced with few other options, the US is likely to continue to support the Pakistani Army and to hope that Musharraf can somehow engineer a soft landing.