Benazir Bhutto was focused on the Pakistani Tribal Areas during her campaign. She was optimistic her government could reconnect with them...

... bringing about national security rather than violence. Her widower would know her plans. So would her son. They can bring about stability in Pakistan in all regions that are void of terrorist influences. And in the regions that remain unstable and problematic, it just may be that is where al Qaeda and the Taliban have a strangle hold. The new Pakistani government must be given a chance.

(click title to entry, thank you)...Most of these fighters are probably drawn to the region to kill NATO troops and their local allies in Afghanistan. Indeed this is a big reason why the reconstruction effort there may be failing. Some 1,500 civilians have been killed in Afghanistan this year—roughly half of them by Western troops. In a bleak assessment of the progress of the war, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of America’s joint chiefs of staff, this month suggested that “time is running out” to turn things around....