One militant for every 1,000 refugees

That's not math I can believe in.

Helicopters dropped Pakistani commandos into a Taliban stronghold in the Swat Valley on Tuesday, pressing ahead with an offensive the army said had killed more than 750 militants and driven around 800,000 people from their homes.

I guess maybe I'm not getting the concept behind this. If 0.1% of refugees eventually become militant out of anger, a number I'm guessing errs low, then any offensive against the militants actually, demonstrably, increases their numbers. It's like the story of the Hydra of Lerna, if Heracles was a complete idiot.

Choppers placed troops on "search and destroy" missions in the remote Piochar area in the upper reaches of the Swat Valley, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said. Officials have identified Piochar as the rear-base of an estimated 4,000 Taliban militants.

Coincidentally, Piochar is home to approximately 4 million people. Thank god; any fewer than that and we'd Pakistan would* have to give up partway through.

* Sorry, slight reading mistake about US missile strikes which I thought were related to the Piochar activity.