US, Pakistan struggle to reach accord regarding N. Waziristan military action

ISLAMABAD: With little or no ground intelligence and complete lack of state-of-the-art surveillance devices, Pakistan finds itself in a difficult situation and is left with no choice but to rely on intelligence provided to it by the United States in North Waziristan and other sensitive areas within its borders.

Also, there is a growing pressure from Washington on Pakistan that it has to contain ‘emboldened Islamic extremists’, which in the worst-case scenario would lead to another attack on the US homeland.
(The News, Mariana Baabar)

Baabar (not Babar) provides an interesting take, and sticks with a writing approach that doesn't wander too far from the U.S. style of "objective" journalism.

The situation does seem best explained by conventional wisdom. Musharraf's government arose as a military dictatorship, and the president has moved toward significant democratic reforms--but the population of Pakistan contains quite a bit of sympathy for Islamic extremism. Indeed, Musharraf's government was about as tight with the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan as anybody.

In short, the grip of the sane on power in Pakistan isn't as firm as could be hoped.

Given the vulnerability of the government, Musharraf is caught between a rock and a hard place. He knows that he's at risk of being ousted by factions within his own country, and he fears that cooperating too deeply with the United States will ramp up the efforts to push him out of power. But I don't think his only concern is being pushed out of power.

I do think that Musharraf has the good of Pakistan in view. He knows that if radical factions gain control of the country it will fall into alignment against the West, and increase the chances that Pakistan will be pulled into a devastating war, or at least into an unpleasant imposition of economic sanctions.

With the long-term conflict with India still simmering, Pakistan call ill afford to cast aside potential friends.