The military says its security forces, already in control of key Taliban strongholds in the tribal region such as Kotkai, the hometown of Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, were fighting street battles in other militant strongholds including Kaniguram, described as a Taliban operational center and a base for Uzbeks, Chechens, Arabs other foreign militants.

The military says more than 260 militants have been killed with the army losing about 30 soldiers since the assault began Oct. 17. By Sunday, the three-pronged operation reportedly had reached the outskirts of Makin and Sararogha, the command and control centers of the militants.

One commander told journalists the operation has succeeded beyond expectations and that the militants' "days are numbered."

A similar assessment was provided by Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Kuala Lumpur, where he was attending a conference of developing nations.

"The operation so far has been very successful," Qureshi said. "The resistance that we were expecting initially did not come with the same stiffness as we expected."

But an article in Monday's Dawn, Pakistan's leading English newspaper, said: "This strategy may well succeed depending on what is perceived as success. Would it be the occupation of spaces under Mehsud (tribal) control? Or would it be the elimination of Hakimullah's TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or Pakistani Taliban)?

"In a conventional war occupation of enemy territory constitutes success; in counterinsurgency, elimination. Unless the occupation of TTP spaces also leads to their elimination, the army would inevitably be drawn into a protracted guerrilla war of the kind that the Soviets fought and lost, and the Americans are fighting and losing."

What is not clear in the South Waziristan offensive is whether the military has the critical support of the people who have borne the brunt of Taliban oppression all these years and who are now fleeing the battle by the tens of thousands.

Some of these refugees told The Washington Post the whole offensive has seemed to be a "drama" staged to satisfy the United States.

"The operation is a joke just to please the foreign masters," a driver told The Post last week.

Other refugees said while they'd seen little evidence of the military's ground operation, they had witnessed masked and armed militants roaming freely.

"They will only rise against the Taliban when they are convinced the government means business," Saifullah Mehsud, director of an Islamabad research center on tribal areas, told The Post. "But they have never been convinced."

This despite the hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment the United States has rushed to Pakistan in recent months to aid in the offensive. While Pakistan may not wish to speak openly about it, the shipments have included Mi-17 troop transport helicopters, night-vision goggles and eavesdropping equipment, the report said. American military surveillance drones also have been providing video images and target information to Pakistani ground commanders.

Any success in the latest campaign would bring much-needed comfort to Pakistanis, especially those in major cities whose lives have been severely disrupted by a wave of attacks in recent weeks by militants whose targets have spared nothing, from crowded bazaars and security installations to even religious universities and girls' schools. The worst was last Wednesday's car bombing in a crowded market area in Peshawar frequented by women. More than 100 people died, mostly women and children. The attack occurred on the day of the arrival of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Islamabad for a three-day visit. On Monday a suicide bomber set off an explosion in Rawalpindi, nuclear-powered Pakistan's heavily guarded garrison city near Islamabad, killing more than 30 people.

These attacks on Pakistani civilians violate "the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law," the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Pakistan is going through "a remarkably difficult time," when the "retrograde extremists" want to bring their country "back into the dark ages."

On a visit to Peshawar after last Wednesday's carnage, Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, speaking to reporters, said the country's civilian, military and political leadership have no other option than to fight the militants "because their intentions are to take over" the country.

Operation Rah-i-Nijat, it would seem, just cannot afford to fail.

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