There goes Bush's last alleged achievement:

Taliban militants have banned female education in the northwest Pakistan valley of Swat, depriving more than 40,000 girls of schooling, officials said on Saturday.

"My daughters are sitting at home," said Mohammad Ayub, father of two girls whose school was blown up by militants in October. "Their future looks bleak because they will stay uneducated."

There has been fighting in the valley for more than a year, but residents say the military is losing control to militants who aim to impose a severe form of Islamic law.

Swat is just one front the militants have opened up as violence has spread across Northwest Frontier province from adjoining semi-autonomous tribal areas that border Afghanistan.