FACTBOX-Pakistan's tribal areas and militants
July 3 (Reuters) - Northwestern Pakistan's ethnic Pashtun lands are home to militants bent on bringing hardline Islamic rule to Pakistan, defeating Western forces in Afghanistan and launching attacks in Western countries.
Al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and his number two, Ayman al-Zawahri, are believed to be hiding in the region.
Here are some details about the Pashtun tribal areas.
THE TRIBAL AREAS
* The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) cover about 27,220 sq km (10,200 sq miles) of mountainous territory and are home to about 6 million people, most of them Pashtun. They border Afghanistan and Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), where militancy is spreading.
* The seven agencies that make up the FATA are Khyber, Kurram, Orakzai, Mohmand, Bajaur, North Waziristan and South Waziristan. Many residents sympathise with the former Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, their fellow Pashtuns.
* The area is awash with weapons. Few of Pakistan's federal laws apply and outside interference is resented. Under a system inherited from colonial Britain, a government "political agent" administers through tribal elders who are meant to maintain peace and keep open roads such as the Khyber Pass, a vital supply route for Western forces in Afghanistan.
THE MILITANTS
* An umbrella group, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Taliban Movement of Pakistan, is led by Baitullah Mehsud. He is accused of a wave of suicide attacks in Pakistan since mid-2007, including the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Mehsud is based in South Waziristan and main allied factions are in North Waziristan and Bajaur.
* These factions are closest to the Afghan Taliban, are most involved in the Afghan insurgency and harbour most of an estimated several thousand foreign militants in the region.
* Fighters from these groups infiltrated the Swat Valley in NWFP, where violence surged last year and has carried on intermittently despite a peace pact signed in May.
* Other factions, usually formed by a tribe or clan, espouse the hardline, Taliban cause but have not joined the TTP.
* Some criminal gangs also profess to be Taliban.
GOVERNMENT POLICY
* Pakistani troops rarely entered the area before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. A succession of military forays and peace pacts since then has failed to stem the militants' growing strength and spread.
* Both the federal government and allied NWFP government say they want to end violence through pacts with tribal elders, making them responsible for stopping attacks in Pakistan and into Afghanistan and for expelling foreign militants.
* The government reserves the right to use force, as seen on June 28 when paramilitary Frontier Corps troops began a sweep in Khyber to push back militants from the Lashkar-e-Islam faction, which is not allied with the TTP, who had been threatening Peshawar. Concern has been growing about security for Western military supplies trucked to Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass though the sweep was some distance to the south.
* Critics say new coalition partners have been preoccupied with disputes over the fate of the unpopular President Pervez Musharraf and a judicial crisis, and the sweep was little more than a show of strength against a relatively small faction, not known for harbouring al Qaeda or attacking Afghanistan.
* Economic development of the backward area is the other main policy the government hopes will bring stability.
THE UNITED STATES AND AFGHANISTAN
* The United States is generally supportive of government efforts in the tribal areas though U.S. commanders in Afghanistan say Pakistani pacts enable the Taliban to step up attacks there.
* The Pentagon said last month the greatest challenge to long-term Afghan security was insurgent sanctuaries in FATA.
* This year, U.S. drones have struck several sites killing dozens of suspected militants and on June 10, 11 Pakistani soldiers were killed in an air strike as U.S forces battled Taliban on the border.
* A frustrated Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, said on June 15 he might send troops into the FATA to fight the Taliban.
* The United States has promised $750 million in aid to develop the FATA. (Writing by Zeeshan Haider and Robert Birsel)
Al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and his number two, Ayman al-Zawahri, are believed to be hiding in the region.
Here are some details about the Pashtun tribal areas.
THE TRIBAL AREAS
* The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) cover about 27,220 sq km (10,200 sq miles) of mountainous territory and are home to about 6 million people, most of them Pashtun. They border Afghanistan and Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), where militancy is spreading.
* The seven agencies that make up the FATA are Khyber, Kurram, Orakzai, Mohmand, Bajaur, North Waziristan and South Waziristan. Many residents sympathise with the former Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, their fellow Pashtuns.
* The area is awash with weapons. Few of Pakistan's federal laws apply and outside interference is resented. Under a system inherited from colonial Britain, a government "political agent" administers through tribal elders who are meant to maintain peace and keep open roads such as the Khyber Pass, a vital supply route for Western forces in Afghanistan.
THE MILITANTS
* An umbrella group, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Taliban Movement of Pakistan, is led by Baitullah Mehsud. He is accused of a wave of suicide attacks in Pakistan since mid-2007, including the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Mehsud is based in South Waziristan and main allied factions are in North Waziristan and Bajaur.
* These factions are closest to the Afghan Taliban, are most involved in the Afghan insurgency and harbour most of an estimated several thousand foreign militants in the region.
* Fighters from these groups infiltrated the Swat Valley in NWFP, where violence surged last year and has carried on intermittently despite a peace pact signed in May.
* Other factions, usually formed by a tribe or clan, espouse the hardline, Taliban cause but have not joined the TTP.
* Some criminal gangs also profess to be Taliban.
GOVERNMENT POLICY
* Pakistani troops rarely entered the area before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. A succession of military forays and peace pacts since then has failed to stem the militants' growing strength and spread.
* Both the federal government and allied NWFP government say they want to end violence through pacts with tribal elders, making them responsible for stopping attacks in Pakistan and into Afghanistan and for expelling foreign militants.
* The government reserves the right to use force, as seen on June 28 when paramilitary Frontier Corps troops began a sweep in Khyber to push back militants from the Lashkar-e-Islam faction, which is not allied with the TTP, who had been threatening Peshawar. Concern has been growing about security for Western military supplies trucked to Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass though the sweep was some distance to the south.
* Critics say new coalition partners have been preoccupied with disputes over the fate of the unpopular President Pervez Musharraf and a judicial crisis, and the sweep was little more than a show of strength against a relatively small faction, not known for harbouring al Qaeda or attacking Afghanistan.
* Economic development of the backward area is the other main policy the government hopes will bring stability.
THE UNITED STATES AND AFGHANISTAN
* The United States is generally supportive of government efforts in the tribal areas though U.S. commanders in Afghanistan say Pakistani pacts enable the Taliban to step up attacks there.
* The Pentagon said last month the greatest challenge to long-term Afghan security was insurgent sanctuaries in FATA.
* This year, U.S. drones have struck several sites killing dozens of suspected militants and on June 10, 11 Pakistani soldiers were killed in an air strike as U.S forces battled Taliban on the border.
* A frustrated Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, said on June 15 he might send troops into the FATA to fight the Taliban.
* The United States has promised $750 million in aid to develop the FATA. (Writing by Zeeshan Haider and Robert Birsel)
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