Hundreds were killed on both sides in scores of operations in the tribal belt, mostly since 2004.
Musharraf then changed tack. A peace deal struck in North Waziristan last September demanded that militants stop attacks into Afghanistan and halt "Talibanization," in return for Pakistani troops moving out of towns like Miran Shah, while retaining a presence at the border.
A peace agreement also was signed in South Waziristan in 2005.
Ali Mohammed Jan Aurakzai, the top government official in northwestern Pakistan, has defended the peace deal approach.
He recently said that reports of barbers refusing to shave beards and Taliban-style courts were isolated incidents that reflect the area's Pashtun tribal tradition, rather than a fundamentalist takeover.
But tribal elders who act as guarantors for the North Waziristan deal appear powerless to enforce it.
Even Musharraf has acknowledged that some of his security forces have been turning a blind eye to militant infiltration.
US and Afghan officials complain of rising cross-border attacks, and McConnell said that the September deal is helping al-Qaeda's efforts to establish training camps and other operations there.
It remains difficult to verify that statement.
Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao denied it on Wednesday, saying the US had shared no such information with Pakistan.
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