For decades, the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region has served as home to armed groups of Islamist insurgents fighting in Afghanistan, Kashmir, and beyond. Since the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, most of those groups, including al Qaeda and the leadership of the Afghan Taliban and other anti-government elements, have used bases in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) to plan, train, arm, and recruit. Pakistani extremist forces have also become emboldened, holding territory, attacking Pakistani military and government targets, and expanding their reach into the "settled areas" of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP).

For the past several years, the Government of Pakistan has alternately engaged in military campaigns to route insurgents and suing for peace. With the growing threat to Pakistan and increased insurgent attacks in Afghanistan, pressure has mounted for Pakistan's new government and military chief to address this serious challenge to Pakistan's stability and territorial integrity. Pakistani President Zadari has said recently that, "the war we our fighting is our war." The US government has also stepped up strikes in Pakistani territory, alienating many in the Pakistani establishment who view such attacks as a violation of Pakistani sovereignty. At the same time, the long-term challenge of dealing with this region is not a military one, but rather requires the expansion of government capacity, political freedoms, and economic development to the area.

Former Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao will discuss the Pakistan government's efforts to stabilize the FATA and NWFP in Pakistan. Minister Sherpao is currently the head of the Pakistan Peoples Party, and previously served as the Interior Minister of Pakistan from 2004-2007 and the Minister for Kashmir Affairs & Northern Areas, States & Frontier Regions from 2002-2004. He was also the chairman of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Joint Peace Jirga in 2007, an initiative to bring together both politicians and community leaders to discuss peace and security between the two countries.

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Speakers

• Khan Sherpao
  Former Interior Minister of Pakistan
• Wendy Chamberlin, Discussant
  Former US Ambassador to Pakistan
• J Alexander Thier, Moderator
  Senior Rule of Law Advisor, United States Institute of Peace