Propaganda Watch: The Pakistani Tribal Areas
By 
Shan-ul-Hai •
July 18, 2008
Based on the reactions to the article I wrote yesterday, I came to the realization that people don’t really understand anything about the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in northwestern Pakistan. People blame the Pakistani government for not doing enough to restrict extremist activity in these areas and they suggest that local authorities should do something to take control of the area. Here are some things that you should know before making any conclusions:
- –The tribal areas are effectively not a part of Pakistan. They may be “officially” within the borders, but they are essentially independent. Pakistan has a loose government system there, but they don’t have military control over that part of the country.
- –The official literacy rate is only about 17% (the actual rate is probably even lower than that; many of the people don’t get counted in the census) and many children are brought up in an environment where extremism isn’t considered to be that bad. People don’t really know too much about our Western schools of thought and many of them are trained (or “brainwashed”) to believe that outsiders are evil.
- –The US threw a lot of guns into the area back in the 1980’s when the Soviets were invading Afghanistan. The guns didn’t magically disappear after the invasion. The Afghanis didn’t have any money and their infrastructure was destroyed, so they ended up selling most of it to the people in these tribal areas across the borders. These days, you can just walk up to a stall and buy an AK-47 (or, as they’re known there, a Kalashnikov).
- –The terrain is amazingly rough (I’ve been to that area before… except I was on the Pakistani side, where they actually have paved roads). The locals, of course, know the area very well… but it’s impossible for an invader to navigate the Himalayas or the Hindukush mountains without being picked off by those AK-47’s.
- –The culture of the area is a very proud one. People have a great deal of pride in their heritage and they hate to be bothered by outsiders. Until now, the Pakistani government has just left them alone and they’ve had no real military presence in the area.
The American media has made it seem like Pakistan has a responsibility to take control of these areas, ignoring the fact that it would be a suicidal mission. If the military were to invade, the best-case scenario would be a civil war. It’s not easy to go into a war with a belligerent group of people who have expensive American/Soviet weapons to fight with and an entire mountain range to hide in.
Think about it… as long as the Bush administration keeps blaming Pakistan for the problem, they can avoid taking any blame themselves. For a short while, the US was considering invading the area too, but Pakistan wouldn’t allow that either… why would they let their friends jump into a suicide mission?
Sure, I understand that we have to do something about the problem. But we can’t just start a war because we there are no other obvious options. Invading would be counterproductive… the only decent option is to solve the problem that’s causing the extremism. If we gave them aid and education, they would learn not to hate us as much. If we try to kill them, we’ll fail to kill them and they’ll still want to kill us. Is the invasion really even a logical option?
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I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know anything about the federally Administered Tribal areas. So I found your post to be interesting. I feel that most of the time people don’t fully comprehend the issues surrounding certain problems and only see them as a matter of black and white when, in most cases, they far more complicated than that.
Honestly, I feel that if there was only a way to deliver a better, well-rounded education to everyone in the world…that so many of today’s problems would be eliminated. Of course, it isn’t that easy and never will be. But you’re right…in areas where there is a low literacy rate and children are raised to believe that outsiders are evil, the only way to stop the violence is going to be to either destroy them or, over time, change their perceptions. Education eliminates such teachings and misconceptions.
There are countless problems in America that would be solved by increasing people’s understanding of the world and its inhabitants.
“The tribal areas are effectively not a part of Pakistan. They may be “officially” within the borders, but they are essentially independent.”
You cant have it both ways, either its part of Pak and you need to regulate the idiots (and face the consequences if you dont), or its not in which case the tribal areas are sovereign and they’re fair game to be regulated by anyone they attack. One or the other, not both.
Im done reading this uneducated drivel & commenting on it, I hope Pak does something before the idiots cause more trouble and really get a lot of people killed.
uhm i think you don’t quite understand the situ quite well
I agree that pakistan has less control over that region that rest of the country but pakistan had good relations w/ the tribals during the reign of taliban. Why would the country not try to exercise more control over the region when it had the opportunity to do so?
–The US threw a lot of guns into the area back in the 1980’s when the Soviets were invading Afghanistan.
True. But I presume a lot of weapons may also have gotten to them through the pakistani govt which supported Taliban only a few yrs ago … pakistan could’ve tried resettlement or developing that area for anything besides making opium.
> For a short while, the US was considering invading the area too, but Pakistan wouldn’t allow that either… why would they let their friends jump into a suicide mission?
yea right, pakistan’s relationship w/ US is more like suspecting somewhat bitter “friends” … Pak obviously wouldn’t want US in the tribally administered area simply because it can be seen as an attack on their sovereignty.
The truth is pakistan has been testing diplomacy to the maximum … they want to keep US silent while not hurting the tribals. The people who have been involved in the Afghan fight has been the ISI … and they were big friends of Taliban till very recently … it would be silly to assume that they would change their loyalties so quickly and easily …
there is more but i’ll add on at a later time …
alexander the great