Then there is Al Qaeda. According to American officials and counter-terrorism experts, the organisation has rebuilt itself and is using its sanctuaries inside the tribal areas to plan attacks against the US and Europe. Since 2004, six major terrorist plots against Europe or the US — including the successful suicide attacks in London that killed 52 people in July 2005 — have been traced back to Pakistan’s tribal areas, according to Bruce Hoffman, a professor of security studies at Georgetown University. Hoffman says he fears that Al Qaeda could be preparing a major attack before the American presidential election. “I’m convinced they are planning something,” he told me.

At the centre of all this stands the question of whether Pakistan really wants to control the Talibs and their Qaeda allies ensconced in the tribal areas — and whether it really can. The idea that Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies could simultaneously be aiding the Taliban and like-minded militants while taking money from the US is not as far-fetched as it may seem.

Excerpted from The New York Times’ magazine section