When Richard Holbrooke, Barack Obama’s choice to be envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, arrives in Islamabad in the weeks ahead he will find a civilian administration huddled behind checkpoints and blast walls in a tense city.

The government of Yousuf Raza Gilani faces a daunting task. The war against militants on the Afghan border is intensifying, relations with India have nosedived after the Mumbai terror attacks and, even after a $7.6bn (€5.8bn, £5.5bn) IMF rescue package, the economy is weak.