The bloodshed in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is becoming horrifyingly familiar. In September alone, we witnessed with shock two devastating blasts in K-P which killed police personnel and civilians and left scores injured. The attackers used an explosives-laden vehicle before armed militants stormed the compound. It was not an isolated incident but another entry in a growing catalogue of violence stretching across North Waziristan, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Tank, Hangu, and beyond.

The obvious question is no longer whether Pakistan possesses the capacity to confront terrorism. It does. Pakistan has sophisticated weapons systems, one of the world's largest professional armies, extensive intelligence organisations, and decades of counterterrorism experience. Yet relatively small militant organisations continue to kill policemen, soldiers and civilians almost at will where and when they choose! This is the paradox Pakistan must confront.

The TTP and associated militant networks do not need to defeat the Pakistani military. They merely need to survive it. An........

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