Pakistan's government has pledged to "gradually" pull out troops from the northwestern valley of Swat after signing a peace agreement with Taliban militants today.
Authorities in North West Frontier Province also agreed to enforce sharia, Islamic law, in Swat in return for assurances that militants will halt attacks, allow girls to go to school and stop carrying weapons in public.
"We hope this agreement will help bring peace in Swat," Bashir Ahmed Bilour, senior provincial minister, said after signing the 15-point pact.
The deal was done a day after the United States advised its ally against negotiating with militants, saying it could give them breathing space to plot attacks in Pakistan and abroad.
Pakistan has made peace deals in the past but critics, including western allies, have complained that these resulted in militants regrouping and intensifying cross-border attacks on Nato forces in Afghanistan.
Speaking at a congressional hearing, US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte voiced the US government's misgivings over the deal.
"I hope that they [the government] proceed cautiously and not accept an outcome that would give extremist elements the right, or the ability, to use the FATA area with impunity to carry out attacks on Pakistan, and carry out attacks on Afghanistan or the United States or the rest of the world,"
Pakistani tribal areas are commonly known as Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).