I recently read Descent into Chaos, which told the compelling story of how Afghanistan and Pakistan have become so turbulent ever since 2001. It's written by Ahmed Rashid, a renowned Pakistani journalist, and he writes a detailed article in the NY Review of Books on the same issue. Specifically he explains how fundamentalists militants, especially the Taliban, grew to become such a menace and the extent of their power that has seen their influence spread from the NW frontier 'badlands' to deep into Pakistan. From both the book and this article, I can't help thinking that Pakistan is in very deep and dire troubles. And this does not bode well for Afghanistan's stability and security.

This interactive map of China highlights the nation's diversity by showing where the major ethnic minorities live and brief details. Clearly relations between the majority Han and some minorities have been quite negative, especially with the Xinjiang problems this past week and with Tibet.
Despite the number of these minorities, and their large numbers, such as the Zhuang being 15 million-strong, the Han number over 1 billion, making up at least 90 percent of China's population.