The news from Pakistan is generally bad news. In the past week, which was far from atypical, suicide bombers attacked a court building in the northwestern city of Peshawar taking hostages and killing four people. In the southern city of Karachi the director of a renowned social program working in the megacity's poorest neighborhoods was shot and killed. And gunmen kidnapped two female Czech tourists in southwestern Pakistan. But this past week also saw more than a glimmer of good news from Pakistan: Saturday, March 16 marked an extraordinary moment in Pakistani history, as this is the first time  a civilian government has served its entire five-year term (from 2008 to 2013). And, for the first time in its history, the Pakistani military appears unwilling to mount a coup against the civilian government. The military has successfully executed three coups and attempted a number of others since Pakistan's independence in 1947.
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Peter Bergen: For the first time, Pakistan government served its full term
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He says lack of military coup attempt shows government is more stable than many think
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Elections in Pakistan, Afghanistan likely to be crucial for those two nations
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Bergen: He says Afghan economy is resilient and corruption may be receding
The @placeholder Attorney General's office said last week that it would appeal the sentences as being too soft given the scale of the fraud.