The news afar just keeps getting better:

The United States is continuing to make large payments of roughly $1 billion a year to Pakistan for what it calls reimbursements to the country’s military for conducting counterterrorism efforts along the border with Afghanistan, even though Pakistan’s president decided eight months ago to slash patrols through the area where Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters are most active....So far, Pakistan has received more than $5.6 billion under the program over five years....despite new evidence that the Pakistani military is often looking the other way when Taliban fighters retreat across the border into Pakistan....The administration, according to some current and former officials, is fearful of cutting off the cash or linking it to performance for fear of further destabilizing Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who is facing the biggest challenges to his rule since he took power in 1999.

So Musharraf's very weakness and tenuous hold of power serves as a form of monetary blackmail to the U.S., and meanwhile the Taliban prospers. Incredible.