By guest host Jane Clayson:

Fresh U.S. intelligence has put all eyes on the northwest provinces of Pakistan as the hot zone for al Qaeda terrorists. The timing couldn’t be worse.

America’s key ally, Pakistan’s moderate President Pervez Musharraf, has sent troops to the area along the Afghanistan border, but his country is in crisis with escalating violence and pressure building from Islamic fundamentalists.

Washington is watching and worrying.

This hour On Point: we look at breeding grounds for terrorism in the mountains of northwest Pakistan.

Guests:

Ahmed Rashid, Pakistani journalist and bestselling author. He writes for the Daily Telegraph in London, the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.;

Seth Jones, an authority on counter-terrorism and a political scientist at the Rand Corporation.;

Evan Kohlmann, international terrorism consultant and author of “Al-Qaida’s Jihad in Europe: The Afghan-Bosnian Network.”