The Moment

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It takes a big bomb to make a point in Pakistan these days. Suicide attacks have become so depressingly common that small incidents can be forgotten within hours. But when a bomber driving a truck packed with 1,300 lb. (600 kg) of high-grade explosives rammed the front gate of Islamabad's Marriott hotel on Sept. 20, the explosion destroyed the hotel, killed at least 60, injured hundreds and sent a powerful reminder to anyone who had not yet got the message: Pakistan is now the central front in the war between the U.S. and its allies and radical Islam.

The problem for newly elected President Asif Ali Zardari is that preventing terrorism while maintaining ties with Washington means reconciling a growing number of contradictions. American impatience with Pakistan's faltering campaign against militants on the nation's Afghan border has led U.S. forces to launch raids into Pakistani territory--raids that Zardari believes will alienate border tribes, sour relations with Pakistan's mercurial army and anger the public. The paradox is beginning to turn nasty. Two days after the bombing, U.S. helicopters seeking to cross the border were repulsed by gunfire from Pakistani troops and local tribesmen.

Ousted President Pervez Musharraf once described balancing such demands as "tightrope-walking." Now the rope has grown slender, and Zardari will have to tread it amid fierce winds. More than 7 in 10 Pakistanis oppose military cooperation with the U.S. For many, the fight has always been an American war. Zardari must change that perception, and one way to do that is to use the latest attack--whose victims were overwhelmingly Pakistani--to turn public opinion.

Still, the U.S. has to meet Zardari halfway. "They talk about their own war, their demands, asking for more to be done," says Zaffar Abbas, senior editor at Dawn, a well-respected Pakistani daily. "The question being raised is, Why should we become a part of it?" As the Marriott bombing shows, this is their fight too.