Quite a few bloggers have expressed concern that Pakistan has given away a large chunk of itself to the Taleban, to become the "Islamic Emirate of Waziristan", cut wholecloth from the troubled northern region of Pakistan proper. Yes, it's a clearly defined surrender dressed in a "truce" suit.
But there may be a plus side to this: if Waziristan is no longer part of Pakistan, and is now openly governed and operated by the Taleban -- against whom we have an official, declared war -- we are no longer constrained.
We used to be unable to do anything in that region, where Pakistani Taleban sympathizers have been harboring "foreign" (al Qaeda) terrorists since day one. Had our coalition/NATO troops crossed the border into Pakistan, it would have been violating a sovereign state which also happened to be a part of our delicate coalition. We would have made an absolute enemy of a nation whose leader has been trying desperately to find a way to remain our ally without giving his people a reason for a bloody coup d'état.
Now that Waziristan is clearly independent of Pakistan, and we have no treaty, no agreement, no actual business with them, we can very easily find good reason to go in and kick hindquarters, with Pakistan's tacit permission.
This black cloud may have a very silver lining.
I wonder if Musharraf was looking at it this way from the git-go?
Update: Captain Ed Morissey sees this as "buying off the tribes in the area", so that Pakistan can really go after bin Laden, etc. He also views the agreement with Karzai in Afghanistan as being (potentially) a positive part of this, as well. He does admit that Bill Roggio's less-than-optimistic perspective has some merit, though.
Me, I can't help but hope.
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