Taliban conventional and suicide attacks in Pakistan have dropped dramatically since the election in February, when the new government has indicated it was willing to negotiate with the terror groups. The Taliban have largely abided by their cease-fire. Meanwhile the U.S. State Department has been pushing the new government to go after the Taliban and al Qaeda in its safe havens inside the Northwest Frontier Province. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said progress is being made on this front, as the Pakistani government is exerting pressure on the Taliban and al Qaeda in concert with efforts on the Afghan side of the border.

"To some extent, the extremists in those areas are now fighting on two fronts," Boucher said at a news conference in Kabul, Afghanistan on March 14. "They have to deal with pressures from the Pakistan side and the pressure from the Afghan side. The more we can do that in concert with each other, the more squeezed the al Qaeda and Taliban supporters in those areas will feel."

The Taliban obviously is not feeling the squeeze, and is brimming with confidence. Yesterday, the Taliban started a two-day conference in the tribal agency of Mohmand. The Taliban have provided their own security and have blocked the roads leading up to the conference.

Taliban leaders will be in attendance. "Local ulema, Taliban leaders and delegations from the Tank and Swat districts of NWFP, and the North and South Waziristan, Kurram, Orakzai and Bajaur tribal agencies participated in the conference," Pakistan's Daily Times reported. "Hundreds of people including Taliban spokesman Maulvi Omar attended the event, despite heavy rain in the area... He said that object of the conference was to enable the Taliban to spread the message of jihad"

None other than Faqir Mohammed, the leader of the Taliban in Bajaur agency who has sheltered al Qaeda number two Ayman al Zawahiri and has been the target of two U.S. airstrikes, is expected to attend the conference. Baitullah Mehsud, the overall commander of the Taliban in Pakistan, declined to attend "due to personal engagements and security reasons."

Meanwhile, the Pakistani government has ordered the Pakistani Army to withdraw from Swat and has ordered a new round of negotiations with the Taliban. The last set of peace negotiations led to the Taliban takeover of North and South Waziristan, Mohmand, and Bajaur agencies and the settled district of Swat.

The Pakistani government knows where senior Taliban leaders are gathering, and has done nothing to kill or capture the men responsible for hundreds of killed and thousands of wounded over the past year in Pakistan alone. Some squeeze.