Abstract
The attacks on World Trade Centre (WTC) and Pentagon on 11 September which killed around 3000 civilians and caused material loss of more than hundred billion dollars was simply tragic. The attacks brought about not only a “seismic shift in international relations” but also forced Pakistan to change its policy towards the Taliban regime and emerged as Front Line state in War against terrorism. The event of 9/11 brought the war-torn Afghanistan to the lime light of global politics. The US authorities were adamant to bring to justice the perpetrators of the heinous crime. In its ‘crusade’ against the mastermind of the terrorist attacks, the US President George W. Bush asked the world community that there couldn’t be any neutral in the war against terrorism. Pakistan, due to its geographical location and its ‘special relations’ with the Taliban became the focus of US strategy to isolate al-Qaeda and Taliban in Afghanistan. The world in general and Pakistan in particular was given a choice by US authorities, “either to be with us or against us” in its fight against the Global War on Terror (GOWT). After Taliban and al-Qaeda rout in Afghanistan in the wake of US-led operation, most of them fled to Pakistan’s Tribal Area. In the wake of 9/11 and the subsequent US-led Operation Endurance Freedom by the US led coalition against the Taliban regime, FATA was catapulted to the center stage of world politics. In addition to its physical proximity to Afghanistan, social and ethnic bonds, the faulty legal system of the area rendered it to be the meetingpoint of the fleeing Taliban and the al-Qaeda. Since 2002 Pakistan launched many military operations against the Taliban, al-Qaeda and other foreign elements in the Tribal Areas of Pakistan with many peace deals but peace remained elusive. This paper will look into the problem that how the status of Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) is responsible for the resurgence of Taliban and deterioration of Pak-Afghan relations particularly after the event of 9/11.
Dr. Hanif-ur-Rehman,, Jamshed Khan,. (2014) Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Pak-Afghan Relations After 9/11, The Dialogue, Volume 9, Issue 4.
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