Drawing a Red Line Around the Taliban

The Pakistani military has been trying to convince U.S. commanders not to launch attacks inside Pakistan. They point to not only an inflamed public but also at tribesmen who have recently pledged to fight the Taliban.

This month groups of vigilante tribal forces -- known here as lashkars -- have formed in the Kurram and Khyber trial areas, as well as in Bajaur.

As part of the media trip, the military escorted reporters to the dusty main street in Raghagan, a 20 minute drive from Tang Khatta to meet the head of the Salarzai tribe.

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There, Malik Munasib Khan presided over a meet-the-media sort of event for the tribe's fighters. With other tribal leaders, he stood on the edge of a raised platform protected from the sun. At his feet, hundreds of young men, all holding up AK-47s, responded to his statements just as parishioners in a church would -- shaking their heads and voicing confirmation (though in this case, they chanted "God is Great" and yelled as they raised their rifles).

"When the Taliban came to Afghanistan, we liked them so much, I swear, the people of Bajaur and women of Bajaur sold their gold for them," Malik Khan recently told ABC News in an interview, his fighters roaring with confirmation. "But those Taliban brothers, they committed atrocities against our tribe, our area and our government. We now must rise against them. And the whole world knows that the Salarzai tribe has risen against them."

"The Salarzai tribe has come up, they've cleaned their area and now they're coordinating with the government to clean the other areas also," Northwest Frontier Province Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani recently told ABC News. "Today, I can very confidently state that 98 percent of the population is anti these militants and these terrorists and are actually helping government and supplementing government efforts."

It is that attitude that citizens, the military and the government here said would be at risk if the United States continued its attacks inside Pakistan.

"No government will remain in power if it allows American forces officially to operate ... inside Afghanistan territory," says retired Lt. Gen. Kamal Matinuddin, the author of the "Taliban Phenomenon" and "Beyond Afghanistan: Emerging U.S.-Pakistan Relations." "Ground troops in Pakistan territory would not be accepted. There would be a general uproar within Pakistan, the present government may fall. And that will further make matters worse for America."

As Bajaur's political agent, the most powerful deal-maker in the district, told ABC News: "They are against the action by the Americans inside Pakistan territory or [the Federally Administered Tribal Areas]. And they said if it's continued, these people will become a sympathizer to Taliban, and anti-American."