Pakistan Under Taliban/Qaeda Control.

President Musharraf was in June warned that al-Qaeda and the Taliban were rapidly spreading beyond Pakistan's lawless tribal areas and that without "swift and decisive action" the growing militancy could engulf the rest of the country, where Iran-backed Shi'ite militants are also active. The warning came in a document by the Pakistani Interior Ministry, which said the country's security forces in North West Frontier Province abutting the tribal areas were out-gunned and out-manned and had forfeited authority to the Pakistani Taliban and their allies.

The 15-page document, reported by The New York Times, said: "The ongoing spell of active Taliban resistance has brought about serious repercussions for Pakistan. There is a general policy of appeasement toward the Taliban which has further emboldened them". It noted that the document was discussed by the National Security Council on June 4 while Musharraf was present.

It appeared to be the first time that such a document had emerged from within the Pakistani government formally recognising the seriousness of the spreading threat from al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters. The New York Times quoted a "Western diplomat" as calling the document "an accurate description of the dagger pointed at the county's heart", adding: "It's tragic it's taken so long to recognize it".

Recognition of the scope of the Neo-Salafis' authority came after heavy pressure on Pakistan from the US to contain the lawlessness in the tribal areas. The US has poured about $1 bn a year into Pakistan over the last five years for what are known as reimbursements for Islamabad's counter-terrorism efforts along the border with Afghanistan. The prime purpose of the sizable financial support has been to stop the area from becoming a haven for the Taliban and al-Qaeda to wage the insurgency in Afghanistan. But now the Interior Ministry has told Musharraf that the influence of the extremists is swiftly bleeding east and deeper into his own country, threatening areas like Peshawar, Nowshera and Kohat, which were considered safeguarded by Pakistani government forces.

Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao, the prime mover behind the document, narrowly escaped a suicide bomb attack in April, when he was targeted by extremists in his home area of Charsadda, about 30 km north-east of Peshawar, capital of North West Frontier Province. The attack on Sherpao shook his confidence in the policy Musharraf has pursued towards the militants, which has included a series of peace deals. Since the peace accords have been signed, the Taliban have filled a vacuum left by the tribal leaders, who have taken a back seat, and by the military, which has retreated to its barracks.

The policy has been questioned by the US and by some of Musharraf's own officers. Brig. Mahmood Shah, who was the senior Pakistani government official in charge of security in the tribal areas until 2006, says: "It's a policy of appeasement. It hasn't worked. The Talibanization has increased in the past year".

The US Embassy in Pakistan now is without an ambassador. Former ambassador Ryan Crocker left in March to serve in Baghdad. The new ambassador, Anne Patterson, appeared before the Senate for confirmation hearings last month.

During a recent visit to Islamabad, US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte sidestepped a direct question about the growing lawlessness as a result of the peace deals in the tribal areas. In response, Negroponte said Washington was considering bolstering the Frontier Corps, an elite force deployed in the border regions. He cited a new $750m development aid package to be spent over the next several years in the tribal areas as a measure of Washington's concern.

Pakistani Interior Secretary Kamal Shah said after the Interior Ministry's analysis several steps had been taken to beef up forces in the region. In particular, he said 31 platoons of the Frontier Constabulary, consisting of 40 officers each, had been redeployed from elsewhere in Pakistan to the areas between the tribal lands and North West Frontier Province. In addition, he said, the Frontier police, which operates inside the province, and the Frontier Corps, which patrols along the border with Afghanistan, were being strengthened, adding: "We're getting more mobility, more equipment and more transport" to these forces. He said peace committees consisting of local tribesmen were being mobilised because "we want to bring the people along".

Brimming with details, the Interior Ministry document gave the names of well-known Pakistani Taliban commanders, including Maulavi Nazir, who has close links to the Afghan Taliban, but also lesser-known militants who lead Taliban patrols responsible for assassinations and suicide bombings in smaller jurisdictions in North West Frontier Province. The naming of lesser-known but potent Taliban figures showed that Islamabad was aware of the far-reaching tentacles of the Pakistani Taliban and other extremists, but chose not to do anything about them.

Among the particulars, the document said the Pakistani Taliban had begun bombing oil tankers as they passed through the Khyber area near the border on their way to Afghanistan for US and NATO forces. It described Peshawar, headquarters to Pakistani military and police, as suffering the "highest number of terrorist incidents, including attacks on local police", in the province. Many of the city's schools were closed because of threats from extremists. Government offices, diplomats and NGOs "routinely" received threatening letters. In Swat, a scenic area recommended for tourists, an extremist imam had begun issuing edicts against vaccination, female education and female health workers. In Bannu and Tank the police were "patronizing the local Taliban and have abdicated the role of law and order".