"So will the US or won't the US, that is the question."
"Will the US do what?"
"Will the US send troops into Pak territory?"
"Musharraf says no."
"And the US does support Musharraf against all odds."
"US support for Musharraf must not be mistaken for a decision that the US may take at any time in the future that they need to bomb parts of Pakistan because there is al Qaeda activity there."
"Right and it's not as if the US hasn't bombed parts of Pakistan in the past..."
"Correct. The US has played it up to their galleries and ours in such a way..."
"Galleries?"
"Common people who don't remember what happened a month ago."
"Ah yes, anyway they have played it so well that even some of the US presidential hopefuls have stated that they would go into Pak territory to get al Qaeda if they have the intelligence and..."
"And why won't they tell the Pak army to go get them, ie the al Qaeda?"
"That I am not quite sure of. But I guess they feel that our army has had limited success in that area because there are al Qaeda supporters in the lower ranks of the armed forces."
"That's rubbish. I mean the army already has had so many casualties as well as hundreds of our soldiers have been taken captive by the militants..."
"But the fact remains that the army has not quite succeeded in rooting out al Qaeda and its sympathisers even though it's trying very hard. On the contrary such activity seemed to be spreading to more settled areas like Swat."
"But then neither has the US and its allies succeeded in rooting out these elements from Afghanistan."
"True but they say it's all coming from our side of the border."
"Ah yes, and so the fight continues and we don't really know when a US bomb will drop on our territory again."
"But who do you believe? Our army which says they have dealt with the problem or the US/Afghan government that says we are not dealing with it?"
"Our army has not quite allowed the Press to visit these areas."
"So? It's dangerous out there and..."
"The US has sophisticated technology that can help them identify everything on the ground."
"So you believe the US?"
"My point: any threatening comments are going to further erode support for Musharraf in the country and they don't want that at this stage where he is already weakened, so if they are saying they have satellite imagery of what is happening within our border..."
"You believe that?"
"Reluctantly."