To the surprise of many, inside and out of Pakistan, the army is apparently actually going to invade the last Islamic terrorist sanctuary in the tribal territories; North Waziristan. This can be seen by the extensive preparations to house half a million civilian refugees expected to flee the fighting. The UN has been notified to mobilize their resources to help handle the refugees. There are currently 147,000 troops in the tribal territories, and nearly 40,000 surrounding North Waziristan (4,700 square kilometers, and 365,000 people). North Waziristan has been surrounded for a year, but Pakistani military leaders have refused to go in and take down this terrorist refuge. One reason for this change of attitude is the continued attacks by what the Pakistanis call "bad Taliban".
This is happening just when our military was resigned to fighting and winning without knocking out the sanctuaries. Of course, there is still Baluchistan in Pakistan. And Iran for that matter, to a degree. Best not to count on full success.
