The FATA Conundrum: A Case Study of Pak-Afghan Border

Istorically, the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) of Pakistan has been of great strategic, geographical, economic and political importance, capturing the attention of the region as well as the international community at large. It has been most vulnerable to the events in neighbouring Afghanistan, particularly. Events such as, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, 9/11 and current unrest have played a detrimental role in the area. Additionally, overlapping and prolonged socioethnic, geographic and religious attachment of both Pakistan and Afghanistan, has been mostly dominated by the mistrust and policy of noncooperation by both the states. The involvement of superpowers, regional players and their interests have further complicated the situation, which has led to the radicalization of the area. As a result, terrorism has been able to flourish in FATA in particular across the border and in the region as a whole. With changing regional dynamics in terms of FATA's merger in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province of Pakistan in 2019, and rise of new terrorist groups like the Islamic State (IS) in Afghanistan, which poses a threat to the region, Pakistan and Afghanistan in particular it is imperative that both Pakistan and Afghanistan work collectively to secure their borders and the region from the escalating threat.