on the problems with the official narrative in Waziristan:
[gov't strategy working?] Facts about the recent fighting have come in fragments. The picture assembled is not quite the same as that painted by the government.
(...)Welcomed in 2001 as "guests", in recent years the foreigners have had to pay for their keep in the tribal areas. For the wealthier Arabs -- especially those with ties to Al-Qaeda -- this has meant extortionate amounts of cash paid to tribal protectors, suppliers and government officials.
(...) But the current "tribal uprising" is not against all foreigners. It appears to be confined to the IMU. Other aliens -- Arabs, Chechens, Central Asians and Chinese -- have been left untouched or been the targets of the Uzbeks. For example, it was the killing by the IMU of Sheik Asadullah on 13 March that tipped skirmishes with the tribesmen into war. Asadullah was a Saudi and said to be the main financier for the Araba Al-Qaeda allied groups in the tribal areas. He was also a lucrative source of trade and patronage for the tribes.
(...) Nor can the current conflict be seen as against the Taliban, the strongest political force in the tribal areas. The anti-IMU tribesmen are led by Mullah Nazir. He was appointed commander of the South Waziristan tribes by the Taliban leadership in November 2006. It was an unpopular decision. Other Taliban leaders in South Waziristan have been fighting alongside the IMU or are "telling everyone that this is an internal war whipped up by the Pakistan army to split the Taliban," says a local. On two occasions senior Afghani Taliban leaders have tried to enter South Waziristan to mediate a truce between tribesmen and the IMU. Both times they were stymied by the army. "Taliban-Pakistan relations are at an all-time low," says the source.
(...) Others say the mobilisation of the tribes is a precursor to a renewed army offensive in the tribal areas, under inordinate US pressure and "against its better judgment," says the source. The military incursions in support of the tribes were the first army actions inside South Waziristan since the 2004 peace agreement. But every previous army offensive has alienated the tribes and strengthened the Taliban. Will that be the fate of the current fighting?