He is incensed by the suggestion that Pakistan needs to do more. Speaking about American efforts in Afghanistan, he says: "In their [own] language, they need to ‘do more.'" He blames them for failing to secure the Afghan border during Operation Sherdil, claiming that more than 700 terrorists were able to evade capture by simply slipping over the border into Afghanistan's neighbouring Kunar province. 

"Either they [the Americans] lack the capability or the willingness, but this is certainly making my job harder. It is like a gas balloon: the moment you squeeze the militants on one side, they go to the other. Either we cross the border or [the Americans] clear it up."

Brigadier Zafarul Haq sits next to Colonel Nauman, grim-faced. He points indignantly to the heavy fatalities sustained by the army in Bajaur — 151 since the fighting began — to rebut accusations that they are not doing enough. 

There is no doubting the ferocity of the battle for Bajaur. What troubles the West, however, is the inconsistency of Pakistan's approach to dealing with the growth of militancy in Fata. Operation Sherdil was launched only in August 2008, almost three years after Abu Faraj al-Libbi first told interrogators that al-Qaeda and Taliban forces were regrouping in the area. 

The army insists it first had to explore alternatives to battle that included negotiating with the Taliban through local jirgas. For them, the ongoing crisis in Fata is principally a domestic crisis threatening Pakistan's national security. "This is our war, not anyone else's," Colonel Nauman says. The unspoken corollary, of course, is that Pakistan will not be dictated to by outsiders. 

That sentiment is borne out of a deep distrust of American intentions in the region. A retired Pakistani official who previously served at the highest levels of government explained why friction persists between the two countries. "They [the Americans] came in the 1980s and then left when the Soviet Union was defeated, leaving us to clear up the mess. Then, after we tested the [nuclear] bomb, they put sanctions on us. Suddenly, 9/11 happens and they expect us to be their best friend?"