Richard Holbrooke's successor as Washington's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan will inherit intractable problems not even the "bulldozer" of U.S. diplomacy was able to resolve. The increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan, inseparably intertwined with Pakistan where Taliban fighters have so long been able to seek sanctuary, has baffled U.S. diplomats, politicians and military commanders for nine years.

Don't trust WikiLeaks," Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani told journalists recently while discussing confidential U.S. diplomatic cables published by the whistle-blower site. The leaks, he said, are "the observations of junior diplomats.

In the past three years Anne W. Patterson, the US ambassador to Pakistan until October, has dealt with a weak civilian government, a recalcitrant military, a stockpile of not very strictly guarded highly enriched uranium (as per the latest release of ambassadors’ cables by WikiLeaks), the Taliban, a war in the country on the west, and regular flare ups with the neighbor on the east.

Less than a month after President Obama testily assured reporters in 2009 that Pakistan’s nuclear materials “will remain out of militant hands,” his ambassador here sent a secret message to Washington suggesting that she remained deeply worried.

The diplomatic cable urged US to consider a new raft of anti-Bin Laden propaganda through the Voice of America radio station, interviews with Bin Laden victims, "commissioned articles" in the local press and an anti-Bin Laden website.

The latest document dump from WikiLeaks reveals the diplomatic high wire the United States is often walking in its relationship with countries that are considered crucial allies in fighting terrorism, such as Pakistan.

When Pakistani Americans Mahnaz Fancy and Zeyba Rahman launched Pakistani Peace Builders (PPB) in May, they did so to bring Pakistani music and heritage to American audiences. An independent cultural diplomacy campaign, PPB aimed to counteract stereotypes and misperceptions of Pakistanis that Fancy and Rahman saw becoming more prominent.

he Guangzhou Asian Games was a great demonstration of China's soft power to the world, said Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday. "The opening ceremony of the Asian Games was very impressive," he said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua, adding it tells the world not only China's economic power, but also the nation's culture, discipline and romance.