The army is composed disproportionately of the frontier types who cause us so much problem on the Afghan border by providing jihadis a sanctuary. So Pakistan's periodic military campaigns are never aimed at decisively beating the tribes. The army--let alone the frontier corps even more highly composed of frontier recruits--cannot afford to destroy the very people that provide so many recruits for the army. The army would crumble if it had to destroy these jihadi-friendly frontier people despite the car bombs that go off in the cities.
So the recent army campaign will end:
Muhammad Ali, an official in charge of the government's crisis management center, said security forces had stopped demolishing militant centers and that the round-the-clock curfew in the troubled town of Bara — a focus of the operation — was being relaxed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The offensive in the Khyber area was launched June 28 to flush out militants threatening Peshawar, a major northwest city, and to secure a road used to send supplies to U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan.
A key target of the offensive is Lashkar-e-Islam, a militant group headed by Mangal Bagh. It and a rival group, Ansarul Islam, are accused of trying to impose their own Taliban-style Islamic rule in Khyber.
In the end, Pakistani military campaigns are only designed to knock back the jihadis enough to lead to agreements that paper over the problems and leave a surface stability--until the jihadis feel strong enough to attack again.
Of course, this also means that the region is never destroyed as a haven for al Qaeda, the Taliban, and other jihadis. We certainly needed the security for our supply lines that the operation enhanced.
But Pakistan will not run a risk to their army--and hence their country--to end the risk the sanctuaries represent to our troops in Afghanistan and to our very homeland. Pakistan will not risk their nation to prevent another 9/11 on our soil.
So, in my view, we are logically being pulled toward a campaign within Pakistan that bypasses the Pakistani government and attempts to work directly with tribes in the frontier areas.
I'm not sure what option we have left.
