The spike of alleged terrorist plots in this country over the past year seems confusing. Law-enforcement officers have nabbed independent plotters in places like Texas and Illinois; a Qaeda-trained individual in Denver; an American involved in the horrific attacks in Mumbai; and now, a young man who planned mass killings in Times Square.

"The Pakistani Taliban and others in Pakistan that have grown closer to Al-Qaeda are a real threat to the United States and to the West in general going forward," Brian Fishman, a research fellow at West Point's Combating Terrorism Center and a fellow at the New America Foundation said.

"We can't just focus on Al-Qaeda any more. There is an entire milieu of groups," he added....

Brian Fishman, a terrorism expert at the New America Foundation, said the New York City incident may give the US more leverage in its arguments.

"I think the U.S. right now is pushing very hard for the Pakistanis to go into North Waziristan militarily," Fishman said. ...