Musharaff has alternated, seemingly without pattern, between trying to make deals with the Taliban in the west (futile), and sporadic military attacks where the Pakistan Army routinely gets its ass kicked in direct face-to-face fights (also futile).

I have heard Bhutto say she would be willing to discuss calling in outside military support. How that works depends on what kind of support. The smart thing to do would be covert operations.

The slow conquest of western Pakistan by radical Islamists has been going on for a long time now. The article says "the depth of the problem has become clear only in recent months," but that's only because the mainstream media has largely ignored it until now.

Other sources have been tracking it a lot longer.