The Taliban currently has direct control over large areas of the North West Frontier Province in Pakistan and tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan.
But this is only the start according to the Taliban's second-in-command.
Maulana Fazlullah, the Taliban's leader in Swat, has told Al Jazeera that the group has an army of suicide bombers than can strike at any moment with the capacity to take control of the entire valley.
Imran Khan reports.
