There is no country more complicated, with more large problems to address, than Pakistan. A nuclear power, it remains on a constant knife's edge with its hostile neighbor India, as the world awakes each morning wondering if these two former lands of the British Raj have finally crossed the line into full-scale war.

Pakistan's 250 million people (the world's fifth-largest population) are packed into an area the size of Texas and Oklahoma combined. Its per-person income is slightly more than half of India, as it remains in the lowest income tier of nations, known as Least-Developed Countries (LDCs).

Looking at its technological and economic progress, Pakistan ranks 89th among nations in the IDCA Digital Readiness Index. Its overall score of 42 on a 100-point scale places it below the world average. (India ranks 79th with an overall score of 46, in line with the world average). Pakistan's nuclear capability also produces about 17% of its electricity, slightly below the world average.

But a highly inefficient manufacturing economy produces CO2 and related emissions at a rate almost twice the world average, with one-third the efficiency of the United States; at least in this category, Pakistan performs better than India, which is the world's third-largest emissions producer and has 25% the efficiency of the US.

Several former presidents and prime ministers of Pakistan have been thrown into prison, killed or assassinated, implemented martial law, or been on the run. The army retains formidable power and is routinely at odds with the country's democratic political system.

As a substantial part of the Indian sub-continent, the areas that constitute Pakistan have experienced thousands of years of the most complicated, fascinating human history found on the planet. Modern Pakistan's creation in 1947 in an enormously complicated and messy partition with India was followed in 1971 with a nasty civil war that produced Bangladesh. Nothing has ever been straightforward or simple in this region.

So it behooves outside observers to attempt to get a grip on this highly consequential nation if they become interested or involved in addressing its issues and potential. Pakistan's current economy ranks it among those in the 40-50th range in the world, similar to Egypt. It is clear modern-day Pakistan underperforms economically, politically, and socially.

Yet Pakistan has a nascent software-development culture, with 300,000 English-speaking developers and projections calling for 40% annual growth in the sector. The country's governments and engineers know how to build and manage nuclear power. Its space program launches satellites and is working with China to launch more. More than $5 billion worth of automobiles are manufactured in Pakistan.

And as always, Pakistan borders and is essentially embedded with India, the world's largest country by population and fifth-largest economy. If India-Pakistan relations could somehow, some day be brought down from their perpetual slow boil to some manner of equilibrium, Pakistan would emerge as a country of consequence, attraction, and positive influence.