The latest in Pakistan

The Pakistani government has gone along with a plan by which the Swat region of Pakistan will be allowed to impose Sharia (Islamic law). This area happens to be just about 100 miles from Islamabad, Pakistan's capitol.

The U.S. government has publicly called this a "negative development" but apparently is privately supporting it as a way to drive a wedge between rival Taliban factions.

President Barack Obama's special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan voiced the greatest concern about the strength of Taliban militants in Swat as he ended his first visit to the region since taking up his post.

"I talked to people from Swat and they were, frankly, quite terrified. Swat has really deeply affected the people of Pakistan, not just in Peshawar but in Lahore and Islamabad," he said, while a Defence Department official described the deal as a "negative development".

On Tuesday night however, US officials in Islamabad privately backed the deal as an attempt to drive a wedge between Swat's Taliban, which is focused on its demand for Sharia law, and the al-Qaeda-linked Taliban led by Baitullah Mehsud, the notorious commander who controls much of North and South Waziristan and other tribal areas along the Afghan border.

While they expressed fears that the deal might yet be sabotaged by some Swat Taliban militants who support al-Qaeda, they said that if successful, the deal would break up the alliance between the two groups, which has caused alarm throughout Pakistan and in Washington.

Hmm.

UPDATE: Comments from Joe Klein at Time.