Al-Qaeda is thriving in Pakistan, thanks to an ill-advised ceasefire deal that Pervez Musharraf cut with tribal leaders in 2006.

Al-Qaeda is thriving in Pakistan, thanks to an ill-advised ceasefire deal that Pervez Musharraf cut with tribal leaders in 2006. The Pakistani army ceased military operations in exchange for a promise that militants would stop incursions into Afghanistan. But the deal was not enforced against the militants. Musharraf seems finally to have realized, in the wake of the Red Mosque battle in Islamabad, that he was had. The U.S. should push Musharraf to meet al-Qaeda's challenge with force of arms, and strive to augment his capabilities through military cooperation and development aid. Only after the tribesmen have seen that a Western-oriented leader has brought security and relative prosperity will their loyalties shift. America also should encourage Musharraf to align the Pakistani military, which will remain the dominant force in the country for the foreseeable future, with Pakistan's secularist progressive parties, such as Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party. The Pakistani population as a whole feels little sympathy for extremists--Islamist parties would win only 5 percent of the vote in a fair election, according to most estimates--but before they can be defeated they have to be fought.