The Associated Press reports that after a Taliban attack on a mosque (so what else is new?) left 33 worshippers dead and dozens more wounded during prayers, tribesmen of the Haya Gai area of Upper Dir district (Pakistan, near Swat province), decided they'd had it. Up to 1,600 tribesmen joined a lashkar (citizens' militia is the translation, but it's more like a Wild West posse on steroids). They promptly cleared 3 villages of Taliban, demolished the homes and "offices" of Taliban fighters, and were fighting in 2 more villages.

The mosque attack was the culmination of growing tensions with the locals, but the fact that the Pakistani Army is on the offensive next door in Swat also played a big role. Despite all the b.s. about those undefeatable Adghan/Pashtun tribesmen, al-
Qaeda and the Taliban have done a very fine job of exactly that in Pakistan. Village leaders and imams who quibble are killed, entire tracts of territory have been turned over to foreigners who run them as Emirs, and the youth are indoctrinated in hate and inducted into the Taliban's fighting forces. The net effect is the Taliban always have more soldiers than any given village or tribe, just enough local backing through native sympathizers to prevent a completely united front, and a deserved reputation for cruelty and brutality. Local tribal leaders weigh the odds, and the stakes, and the Taliban win.

The Boyd/Petraeus "swordlessness" approach may work here, but it requires a very strong and dependable outside military force on site, that can (a) Overmatch the Taliban's advantages in the short term; and (b) Be counted on to stay, in the local tribes' timeframe of "stay" which is a generation or more.