Word: tribals
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...report released by the Pentagon on June 27, Taliban militants in Afghanistan have regrouped after their fall from power and "coalesced into a resilient insurgency." That resilience, say Western military officials in Afghanistan, has a lot to do with their ability to find sanctuary in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas along the border. The day before the report's release, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in a press briefing that he had "real concern" that Pakistan was contributing to Afghanistan's instability by failing to prevent militants from crossing into Afghanistan to carry out attacks on coalition forces. Cross...
...negotiations require effort, attention and political will - all of which the current government, embroiled in power plays in the capital, has not been able to muster. Though the government has granted the army full authority in the tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the army has refrained from retaliation. "We are awaiting the results of the jirga [the peace meeting between tribal heads and government negotiators]," says Lieut. Colonel Baseer Haider, a military spokesman. "Then we will decide the next course of action." A Western military official compares the government's approach to that of a man seeking...
...Terrorist Sanctuary The federally administered tribal Areas, which include Mehsud's South Waziristan base but not Swat, have always been Pakistan's Wild West, a lawless frontier land notorious for smugglers, thieves, guns and drugs. The FATA, as the area is called, is a legacy of a 19th century agreement between the British rulers of undivided India and the Pashtun tribes inhabiting the mountainous fringes of the Empire. In exchange for autonomy and the freedom to run their affairs in accordance with their Islamic faith and customs, the tribal leaders promised to guard the border with Afghanistan and keep peace...
...Khalid Aziz, a onetime political agent appointed by Islamabad to administer to the tribal areas, the militancy is an obvious outcome of the antiquated agreement. Development that brought schools, jobs, roads, health care and electricity to the rest of Pakistan largely bypassed the tribal areas. Unemployment among the population of 3.5 million hovers around 70%. Two-thirds live below the poverty line. Only 6% of inhabitants can read. For women it's less than 1%. "Given that kind of environment; it's not likely that you will see a Leonardo da Vinci come up," says Aziz, who now heads...
...Zimbabwe's Torment Readers may wonder how it is that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has dragged his country into economic collapse and abject poverty, yet millions of Zimbabweans still support him [June 30]. This is because in Africa, tribal feeling remains powerful. The chief of your tribe can do no wrong, and African culture demands that he be supported at all costs. Western nations are justifiably horrified by what is happening in Zimbabwe, but they should bear in mind that the Mugabe regime came to power with their support. Watch South Africa: Its economy and social framework are rapidly following...