Declare FATA part of Afghan war theatre: CSIS

LAHORE: The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan have been ranked among the ‘most dangerous’ places in the world, according to the Press Trust of India that cited a report by a US think-tank – which has called on the incoming Obama administration to declare the area part of the ‘Afghan war theatre’.

Observing that a “nuclear Pakistan as a base for international terrorism is a prospect that the world cannot afford”, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) asked the US government to redefine the territory of war in the region to include FATA.

It said this would help the US Central Command (CENTCOM) cooperate with the Pakistan Army in both military and economic development efforts as needed and agreed on by both the countries.

The observations were part of a report titled ‘FATA: A Most Dangerous Place’, authored by Shuja Nawaz – a Pakistani journalist who has just been appointed the first director of the South Asia Centre at the Atlantic Council of the US.

“FATA remains a most dangerous place, with the failure of governance and the rise of militancy affecting Afghanistan and Pakistan not only individually and separately but also jointly,” Nawaz was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India in his concluding observations. daily times monitor