'With these linkages gone, Mehsud is a man who has a bullet (suicide bomber) but no gun to fire it,' he said, adding that the actions in these districts led to the arrest of dozens of would-be suicide bombers who were already present in or were on their way to the major cities, including the capital Islamabad.

This has taken some of the sting out of Mehsud. While the suicide bombers killed an average of 90 people per month in the first six months of 2009, there has been no major suicide attack for the last two weeks.

But Pakistan has its reasons to allow mediators to engage with the tribal warlord, who has a $5 million price on his head as a key Al Qaeda facilitator and a bounty of $615,000 in Pakistan for ordering a series of deadly bombings.

Its forces are overstretched because of the offensive against Islamist militants in Swat valley and three neighbouring districts.

Though the 12-week Swat operation is being wrapped up after regaining control of major cities, troops are planning to stay in the region in the coming months and perhaps years to rehabilitate nearly two million uprooted people and stop the Taliban from descending from the mountains and reorganizing.

The plan to 'soften up' Mehsud with regular air and artillery strikes before a fully fledged ground assault has not worked very well. After initial strikes, the Taliban adopted better camouflage tactics and remain on the move.

'Sometimes after day-long bombardment we manage to kill even less than half a dozen insurgents,' said a senior military commander who oversees the actions in South Waziristan from Dera Ismail Khan.

A publicly acknowledged peace deal or a secret understanding with Mehsud is going to raise eyebrows in Washington, which wants Pakistan to simultaneously press the Taliban on its side of the border as its forces fight them in Afghanistan.

But local analysts say that despite US concerns Pakistan would mainly focus on Swat and nearby areas where hundreds of schools and businesses destroyed by fighting still remain to be rebuilt. For that matter, keeping Mehsud silent in Pakistan for the moment would be helpful.

'We have our plate full, so don't expect that we would be taking on everything. It is not our responsibility, and we should first ensure our own security,' said Talat Masood, a retired general and leading defence analyst.