Exclusive: Inside Pakistan's Swat Valley !!

ABC News Has Rare Access to Taliban Region of Pakistan

People in the region are terrified. Of the more than 1.5 million people here, more than 200,000 have fled. We saw long lines of vehicles with families and their belongings packed on top, evacuating Swat Valley today.

Girls schools have been closed and ransacked, bombers have staged attacks and businesses have been shuttered. Many people say their businesses are completely ruined.

And followers of a radical Islamic cleric, Maulana Fazlullah, have had no trouble scaring away or slaughtering the few Pakistan government forces have been sent to the area. A dozen were publicly beheaded in recent weeks, and dozens more were taken hostage. They were later released but only after the government freed dozens of insurgents in exchange.

Getting out of the car to do standups was tricky. We did not want to stay in one place too long, or we would attract attention and word would spread that foreigners were in town. In fact, the place I wanted to do a standup was off limits.

"They are looking to take an American hostage over on that side of the river," our local cameraman said. "You should not go there."

So we stayed in the area he told us to. I shot several on-camera pieces, including one right across the river from Taliban headquarters. We attracted huge crowds, and as soon as we did we hopped back in the car.

People we talked to in the small area of Swat that has not yet fallen to the Taliban blame one man for the problems here -- Musharraf. There is talk that President Musharraf may soon mount a major operation here to show that his emergency declaration is intended to battle terrorists, but most people here want to know why he hasn't acted sooner.

I talked to a few people on the streets, but our time was limited. It was getting dark and it was a long way home.