Is Pakistan getting back on track? In recent days, we learned of American reluctance to mount special operations raids in Pakistan's tribal regions while at the same time the newly-elected government in Pakistan finally responded in force to increasing Taliban activity in the region.

American Strategy Program's Nick Schmidle, an expert on this region of Pakistan, examines this operation and concludes while it is good to see the new government taking a firmer stand against the Taliban, the longer-term effect may be to unite the disparate Islamist factions into a more cohesive group.