Uneasy peace in the Swat Valley

Shortly after the announcement, a fleet of 15 NATO oil tankers carrying supplies to Afghanistan was attacked and destroyed in Baluchistan when armed motorcyclists opened fire on the convoy.

And health officials issued an urgent warning of a serious polio outbreak after the disease was detected in 16 children in the insurgents' stronghold of North Waziristan. Vaccinations in the area were halted after a local warlord allied to the Taliban said the Western-sponsored vaccination program was really a spying operation and threatened to attack medical teams.

An independent national security analyst, Matt Ernst, is concerned that with the US timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan looming, drone strikes will be scaled back and an attempt will be made to declare mission accomplished.

"How can we say it is accomplished when we still have a State Department travel advisory telling Americans to avoid all non-essential travel to Pakistan; when our consulate in Lahore remains closed and when kidnappings and assassinations are a regular occurrence," he said.

Doubting whether the Pakistani military has either the ability or the will to control terrorist groups within its borders, Ernst says that while Syria, Egypt and Iraq are currently grabbing the headlines, Pakistan remains at the heart of American security.

"There is a clear case for an increased US military engagement with Pakistan. What is lacking is both the political will and the will of the American people," Ernst said.

"Americans may want the troops to come home, but the only problem with that is that the enemies have not lost the will to fight and the mission is definitely not over."

As we were leaving the Swat the Pakistan military announced that it too was pulling out of the valley, convinced that security could now be safely left in the hands of paramilitary and civilian authorities. There was undisguised concern among many civilians as to what would happen once the soldiers have gone, highlighted by the death of the army commander in the Swat, Major General Sanaullah Khan Niazi, when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the Upper Dir District just hours after the withdrawal was announced.

"People tell us that because Pakistan has a civilian Government, because we now have democracy, [Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz] Sharif will be able to talk to the Taliban and negotiate a settlement," our hotel keeper said.

"I should tell him that the Taliban has no respect for democracy and anyway, being democratic does not win wars."

The Swat has known strife ever since Alexander the Great penetrated the area 2300 years ago. Buddhism flourished here before the Muslim era and the valley abounds with rich archaeological treasures, many still to be properly explored.

Add to that the sparkling streams, placid lakes and majestic mountains, and it is not hard to see why, in the past, the Swat Valley attracted visitors from all over the world.

It remains to be seen whether this land, once the playground of princes and commoners alike, will be left to enjoy the fragile peace which has been unilaterally declared by its political masters.