Some believe the Haqqanis are so confident of their grip on the region that they feel they can afford to mostly abandon it for now. Others say the group has become more focused on Kabul, the ultimate prize in the battle for influence, and on franchising its planning expertise to other insurgent groups across the country.

A recent visit to the region revealed a complex portrait of local feelings toward the Haqqanis.

The true effect of the network’s official break with the Zadran tribe is hard to gauge, as the Haqqanis retain loyalty in the surrounding area and even within parts of the tribe. And any measure of the group’s ability to keep moving munitions and fighters through the remote mountain passes of the Zadran Valley is difficult to come by, because the area is inaccessible to outsiders.

The network has come to resemble a mob in recent years, counterterrorism experts say, with a wide range of funding sources — from basic donations to businesses in the Persian Gulf states — and a sharp sense of how to protect its interests.

But the foreign support, particularly within Pakistan, has come at a cost among Afghans in Khost and Paktia. Many view Pakistan as a sovereign enemy, and the Pakistani security forces’ implicit support for the Haqqanis has tested the loyalty of some people here.

“The Haqqanis are not allowing schools, clinics, roads or civil services, so why would people support him?” Mohammad Ali Zadran, a member of the Zadran tribe and the head of the Tribal Council Liaison Office, said in an interview in Khost, the provincial capital. “We are no longer that older generation who followed him blindly.”

Mr. Zadran paused, then shared another, perhaps more prevalent feeling here: a sense of disappointment in the Haqqanis that is tempered by the group’s historical importance. A stunning mosque that Jalaluddin Haqqani built near the center of Khost City after he seized it from the Soviet-backed government in 1991 stands as a testament to his influence and accomplishments here.