The most recent clashes in Pakistan have been taking place in the Pashtun Mehsood tribal region. The local tribal leader, Baitullah Mehsood, has been blamed for several terrorist attacks by the Pakistani government, including the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

The governor of North-West Frontier Province, Muhammad Jan Aurakzai, resigned from office at the beginning of January. A significant tribal leader himself, he was in favour of negotiating with the militants.

Many observers interpreted his resignation as a sign that Islamabad would once again take a tougher military line. Indeed, clashes have increased significantly in the past few days.

Blaming the government

Opposition politician Imran Khan speaks for many when he says that the Pakistani government and the United States are responsible for the current situation in the Pashtun tribal areas.

"The majority of people in the Muslim world equate the "war against terror" to a "war against Islam"," Khan said. Complaining about the way the Pakistani government had participated in this so-called war and the fact that the army had been deployed against Pakistanis, Khan implied the military actions were driving terrorism.

"Wherever innocents have died, their relatives and all those affected have become terrorists themselves to take revenge on the Pakistani army."

No clear strategy

The government has not followed a clear strategy in recent years. Instead, it has dithered -- fluctuating from launching military actions with many victims, civilian ones too, to conducting peace negotiations with tribal leaders.

Now it has lost the support of the people. "If you want to fight against terrorism, you need to have the people on your side," explained Khan.

"Which means the people also have to think these people are terrorists. But if people in the area where terrorism is originating start thinking these people are heroes, if they start doing things with them, giving them money and their people, the fight won't be winnable. The situation has now deteriorated so much that the army itself needs protection."

Solvable problem in theory

Not everybody agrees. Mehmood Shah, a retired brigadier and former secretary of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, thinks most of the tribal population are caught between the fronts and not really for the Taliban.

"The people don't like this situation," he said. "However, in areas where the government has little influence, but the Taliban have a lot, people support them out of fear."

Mehmood Shah thinks the army should be deployed but he thinks military measures should be also accompanied by political measures. He thinks that "with the right strategy," the conflict could be solved without much problem both "militarily and politically" because the "Pakistani army is very strong and the tribal regions are small".

However, he insisted, "it will only happen without pressure from the US. Pakistani actions should not be considered American actions."

But pressure from the US is intensifying. Some Americans are thinking aloud whether to launch military operations into Pakistani territory from Afghanistan. This isn't making things easy for the Pakistani leadership, which is already under fire domestically.

Meanwhile, just this week, the army presented its "successes" in the fight against militants to journalists -- feelings of self-doubt and potential new strategies were not mentioned.