However its press releases may read air power remains a blunt instrument rather than a scalpel.

Well, perhaps this might betoken more "surgical" strikes:

U.S. military, Pakistan carrying out Predator drone missions together

Reporting from Washington — The U.S. military has begun flying armed Predator drones inside Pakistan and has given Pakistani officers significant control over targets, flight routes and decisions to launch attacks under a new joint operation, according to U.S. officials familiar with the program.

The project was begun in recent weeks to bolster Pakistan's ability and willingness to disrupt the militant groups that are posing a growing threat to the government in Islamabad and fueling violence in Afghanistan.

For the U.S. military, the missions represent a broad new role in searching for Islamic militants in Pakistan. For years, that task has been the domain of the CIA, which has flown its own fleet of Predators over the South Asian nation.

Under the new partnership, U.S. military drones will be allowed for the first time to venture beyond the borders of Afghanistan under the direction of Pakistani military officials, who are working with American counterparts at a command center in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

But,

The Pakistanis, however, have yet to use the drones to shoot at suspected militants and are grappling with a cumbersome military chain of command as well as ambivalence over using U.S. equipment to fire on their own people.

I wonder if the inevitable collateral damage that results will cause criticism to be heaped on the Pakistani government either in Pakistan or the western media

No doubt... it's a tactic used often enough in Iraq and Afghanistan. And of course the anti-western press, such as the NY Times ate it up.