The US needs to help cement peaceful relations between India and Pakistan as much as possible, because peace on that border would allow Pakistan to deploy more forces to the tribal areas.
As well, the US can make a connection with Pakistan by opening itself up more to that country. Permitting more immigration builds person-to-person and family-to-family connections between nations.
Although Musharraf’s negotiations with the tribes resulted in flawed agreements, the more Pakistan can answer to the political needs of the people (including basic rights, including extending basic services), the less any insurgency less viable. Thus the idea of the tribes accepting the authority of the government, and in return getting an appropriate level of local autonomy (which includes a shared definition of criminal procedures, like how local governments work with the federal government in the US), is reasonable and Pakistan should push for it.
In the long run, it may be possible for the US to deploy troops in a limited basis, such as the US does in Columbia, where US troops don’t directly engage in combat but train and support local forces.
