The above report adds further evidence in support of recent TRC assessments that Taliban elements are building in strength and freedom of operations, and entrenching a base of operations along the Afghanistan -Pakistan borderlands and, in particular, in Pakistan territory. This development, coupled with a reported infusion of foreign fighters and weapons, materiel, and financing from abroad, and, potentially, from al Qaeda elements, would seem to be the primary drivers enabling the Taliban and associated Islamist, insurgent, and criminal militant groups operating in the area to launch more operationally capable and robust guerrilla and terrorist operations against the Afghan government and its forces.

As the report notes, indications that the Pakistan borderlands region is becoming a staging ground for cross-border insurgent incursions by the Taliban has become a primary concern of the Afghan government. Further, the ethnic and political sensitivities described in the report that seem to be restraining the Musharraf government from a forceful crackdown on Taliban elements in the borderlands also point to the likely larger concerns of the Musharraf government in seeking to avoid counterterrorism operations against Islamist militant groups in Pakistan?which enjoy the sympathy and/or support of large anti-US nationalist and Islamist segments of Pakistan?s population?that might provoke widespread popular outrage and retaliatory Islamist militancy against the Musharraf regime. Thus, the Musharraf regime is burdened and buffeted by delicate political and national interest considerations that inhibit more forceful counterterrorism operations, and, as a result, have drawn into relief at times the perceived ?utility? of the Musharraf regime as an ally in counterterrorism operations against Islamist militants.