Kurram, Orakzai, Khyber

As the Pakistani military strategists who organised Afghan guerillas against the Soviets in the 1980s discovered to their delight, Kurram is the best location along the entire Pakistan-Afghanistan border to put pressure on the Afghan capital, Kabul, which is just 90km (56 miles) away. But because the region is inhabited by a Shia tribe that opposes the Taliban for religious reasons, the Taliban have not been able to get a foothold here.
The Taliban, with their primary interest in the war in Afghanistan, have also steered clear of Orakzai tribal district because it does not share a border with Afghanistan and is therefore of no strategic value.
But Taliban groups motivated by sectarian strife, or those trying to drive Pakistani forces out of the tribal region, have set up bases both in the Lower Kurram region, where there are few Shias, and Orakzai.
This area links up with the town of Mir Ali in North Waziristan to the south, and Afridi tribal territory in Darra Adamkhel and Khyber in the north. It is overseen by Hakimullah Mehsud (alias Zulfiqar Mehsud), a deputy of top Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud and a cousin of Qari Hussain, another deputy of Baitullah Mehsud’s who is known for running training camps for suicide bombers in South Waziristan.
Hakimullah Mehsud is believed to command an armed force of more than 2,000 fighters of varying ability. From their bases in Orakzai and areas north of Mir Ali in North Waziristan, these fighters have tried to squeeze the Shias of Upper Kurram valley and those living in the Hangu distict of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
Over the past year, they have also infiltrated Khyber region and forged ties with mostly criminal groups that have been operating there in the guise of Taliban. One such group is led by Mangal Bagh. Apart from kidnappings-for-ransom and car-jacking, these groups have also been involved in looting supplies being shipped to international forces in Afghanistan via a road that connects the Pakistani port of Karachi with the country’s north-west and passes through Darra Adamkhel-Khyber region.
These groups have also carried out rocket attacks and bombings inside Peshawar city, the capital of NWFP. More recently, they are suspected of setting fire to hundreds of trucks carrying Nato supplies at a transit terminal in Peshawar.