The Pakistani intelligence agencies have reveal that there are approximately 10,000 foreigners terrorising tribal belt.
The repeated assertions by the American and Afghan officials that the tribal areas of Pakistan have turned into a safe haven for Al Qaeda militants have finally been endorsed by the Pakistani intelligence agencies in their recent report to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, admitting for the first time that the number of the ‘foreign fighters’ present in the Pak-Afghan tribal belt is around 10,000.
We tend to think of the primary hotbeds of terrorism activity to be Iraq and Afghanistan. Those are the areas where the United States does its fighting of course. Unfortunately, they have found “sanctuary” in Pakistan and their are no good options.
The area of Pakistan that the insurgents are hiding is known in Pakistan as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The FATA comprise a significant portion of Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan. It is a mostly mountainous region that is only nominally controlled by the central government of Pakistan. The mainly Pashtun tribes that inhabit the area are fiercely independent. This is the same area of Pakistan from which the Mujahideen fought the Soviets.
Pakistan can’t control the area. The United States doesn’t have the political will to go in after them.