How gun-toting Islamists are expanding their hold on western Pakistan has been laid bare by Islamabad's U.S.-condoned peace agreement effectively ceding the once-pristine Swat Valley to the Taliban to set up a mini-state barely 160 km from the Pakistani capital. The deal came even as Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari warned that the Taliban wants to take over his country. The Taliban's sway on territory on both sides of the British- drawn Durand Line shows that the Afghanistan-Pakistan ("Afpak") border no longer exists in practice.
Less obvious is the Obama administration's interest to seek a political deal with the Taliban behind the cover of a U.S. troop "surge" in Afghanistan. Having failed to rout that Islamist militia, Washington is now preparing the ground to strike a deal with the Taliban leadership, but from a position of strength. That is why the surge has been initiated.
The very day Obama announced the surge, he acknowledged in an interview that "you cannot solve the problem of Afghanistan, the Taliban and the spread of extremism in that region solely through military means." In that light, U.S. officials are expanding contacts with the Taliban.