From back in the summer of 2002:

The words of an elderly Pakistani village leader will haunt me for the rest of my life. An element of the Pakistani military had left the relative security of the Indus river valley, and had pushed up into the fiercely independent and pro-Taliban mountain region bordering Afghanistan. A small element of U.S. personnel was accompanying them, and the team leader captured this sage observation from the village elder, “We do not like the government forces coming up into our territory, you understand, for they have no purpose here. You Americans, on the other hand, we do not mind. You are here for revenge, and revenge we understand.”

We have misunderstood the dynamics of the populaces of this region from the outset, and our policies have reflected that misunderstanding.

I see where recent Predator attacks have succeeded in uniting elements of the Taliban that have been at odds with each other for years. Nothing like a common enemy to bring people together.