The journey reveals just how tense, even febrile, the atmosphere remains. Everywhere I look there are soldiers on patrol while repeated roadblocks hamper our progress. "This entire place was littered with improvised roadside bombs," my driver from the Frontier Corps tells me. A mountain range in the distance is all that separates us from Afghanistan. "The Taliban used to fire on us from up there," he says. It is an enviable vantage point, overlooking the entire valley.

Karachi Rangers 

It is a peculiar feeling travelling through Khar with the army. Until recently, Fata was a no-go area for Pakistan's regular forces. Instead, these areas were administered by locally recruited soldiers who serve in the Frontier Corps. That situation only changed in recent years after the TTP engulfed most of Fata and parts of the neighbouring North-West Frontier Province. Locals remain unsure of how to treat this influx of outsiders to their otherwise insular world. As we drive through the desolate market, where more shops are closed than open, almost everyone stops to stare, some bewildered, others more belligerent, at the procession of vehicles storming through their town. "We risk our lives to save yours," an army roadside sign reassures them. 

It is all part of Islamabad's new outreach programme to win over Fata's tribes after years of persistent neglect and underinvestment. There are signs of enforced conformity everywhere. Pakistani flags are ubiquitous, flying on every street corner, over every house and shop. Bajaur feels like a new city on Independence Day. In some respects, that is what it is. 

At Maulvi Fakir's house, which also served as a madrassah (Islamic school), there is a stark reminder of just why the government has invested so heavily in this battle. A rusting metal sign on the floor reads, "Madrassah and headquarters for the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan". The road leading there is treacherous, a winding uphill dirt track barely wide enough for my car. 

The madrassah's watchtowers offer strategic views over the adjacent grazing grounds and farms. The complex itself consists of buildings made from baked, or "pukka", bricks and mud houses reinforced with stone masonry. Wheat straw, bleached by the sun, sits on mud-plastered mounds, providing shade. These structures might look flimsy but they remain intact, despite being pounded by helicopter gunships weeks before my visit.

It all points to just how ferocious the fighting has been. The lead time enjoyed by the TTP before Pakistani forces eventually moved in allowed them to develop a strong infrastructure, hampering the belated efforts to uproot them.