According to the News and the Nation, fighting continues in the tribal agency of Kurram between the Taliban and a pro-government militia. This would bring the number of militants killed in Kurram over the past week to around 60. While this is going on, Pakistani tribal leaders are in Peshawar to plan an anti-Taliban strategy. With thousands of tribal leaders or "maliks" reportedly killed by the Taliban over the past decade, it's unknown how effectively the Taliban have managed to undo the old system that had governed the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas before the area became "Talibanized".
But if what's going on in Kurram is any indicator, the Taliban are in for a hellish spring and summer.
The tribal agency of Kurram borders the tribal agencies of North Waziristan, Khyber, and Orakzai. In other words, the agency is surrounded by Taliban. On the other side of the border is south-eastern/eastern Afghanistan. And there are local Taliban in Kurram too, of course. Never forget that it was into Kurram agency that Osama bin Laden entered when he fled Tora Bora to cross the border into Pakistan. But Kurram agency isn't quite like the other tribal agencies; first and foremost, there is actually a sizeable population of Shia there who have been there for a very long time. The "Talibanziation" of the area has had less success than in the surrounding areas.
While Mullah Baradar pushed the "Afghan Taliban" into straying away from sectarian strife, the same cannot be said of the "Pakistani Taliban".
The Pakistani Taliban- known there as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan(TTP)- have not been having a good year. There is no reason to expect the spring or summer will treat them any nicer. Reportedly there are 3,000 tribal elders from largest 20 tribes from the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas and North-West Frontier Province who are meeting to try and raise their tribes against the Taliban. The Taliban have previously won any tug of war with the maliks but the government has been pounding them. After their informal and huge jirga today, the tribal council said the army must "destroy the Taliban". We'll see what the Pakistani army decides to do soon enough, although it would be a shame if they continued past mistakes of letting the local and unready militias get slaughtered. But as of right now, according to reports, the locals in Kurram have been beating the heck out of the Taliban.