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South Waziristan Special: The battleground

The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), located along the border with Afghanistan, span an area of 27,220 sq km. The area has Afghanistan to the north-west, NWFP to the east and Balochistan to the south. The geographical arrangement of the seven tribal agencies, in order from north to south is: Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber, Orakzai, Kurram, North Waziristan and South Waziristan. The geographical arrangement of the six Frontier Regions bordering the Tribal Areas, in order from north to south is: Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Tank and Dera Ismail Khan. Waziristan, a mountainous region in the northwest, spans 11,585 sq km and is divided into two agencies, North Waziristan and South Waziristan, with estimated populations of around 0.6 million and 0.8 million, respectively. South Waziristan comprises the area west and southwest of Peshawar between the Tochi River to the north and the Gomal River to the south. Waziristan is named after the Pashtun Wazir tribe and South Waziristan is the largest agency in FATA. Tank is the winter headquarters of the agency while Wana is its summer headquarters. It is bounded to the north by North Waziristan, to the north-east by districts Bannu and Lakki Marwat, to the east by tribal areas adjoining the Tank and DI Khan districts, to the south by Zhob district of Balochistan and tribal areas adjoining DI Khan district, and to the west by Afghanistan. The total area of the agency is 6,619 sq km. The terrain of the agency is mostly a mass of rugged and complex hills and ridges. There are no regular mountain alignments. The land rises gradually from south and east to north and west. The dominating range is the Preghal in the west along the border with Afghanistan. The highest peak, from which the range takes its name, is 3,515 metres high. Zarmelan, Wana, Shakki, Zalai, Spin and Tiarza are the main plains. app

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