Re: Muslim heirarchy. In theory, if there were still a caliphate, the caliph would be the highest authority after the Prophet. The line of the Caliphs was divided early on in the war that separated the Sunni and the Shi'a. There is no Caliph today. When Mohammed 'organized' Islam, he deliberately tried to eliminate any centralized authority. (The Caliphate was a post mortem add on, if I understand correctly.) Thence there is no official heirarchy except within individual schools of Islam and acceptance is more or less voluntary. The big difficulty in dealing with world wide Islam is that there is no one authority or even 100 authorities one can sit down with and work things out.

Re Security Forces: During the USSR/Afghan war, Pakistani security forces supported and supplied the Afghanis (and the Taliban), in part at our request. IIRC, we're the ones who first gave them the plans for the RPG's that have caused so much havoc. Some close friendships developed between them and this is a part of the world where close friendships are idealized. Since many Muslims place the needs of their faith above the wishes of their government - but don't wear signs to show which are which - this can be a problem. About a year ago, Jane's security report said they were 'relatively reliable'.

Re Waziristan: The government in far western Pakistan is essentially tribal. They are, and always have been relatively well armed and bellicose. The English didn't really rule there during the raj. Musharrah doesn't do much better.