Angur Ada

Angur Ada (انګور اډه, literally: "Grape Base" in Pashto) is a village and a border crossing straddling the South Waziristan Agency of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Afghanistan's Paktika Province. It is one of the few easy passages across this mountainous border, and one of two between Paktika and Waziristan, the other passage being the Gomal River.

The Afghan village Shkin lies just to the west of Angur Ada. The actual authoritative Durand Line, first demarcated in 1895, slices through the east side of the main bazaar area, placing most of the built up area legally in Afghanistan. However, the military forces and gates enforcing border control are several hundred meters west of the boundary and thus west of the main bazaar area, placing nearly all of the village's built-up area under the control of forces in Pakistan.

The population in the area consists of tribesmen that share the Taliban's Pashtun ethnicity and are said to be fiercely conservative and antagonistic towards Pakistani authorities who wield almost no control here, being limited in their movements to 100 yards on each side of the road. In 2003 it was reported that eight people had been gunned down in Angur Ada, suspected of being US informants.

South Waziristan

South Waziristan (Urdu: جنوبی وزیرستان‎) is the southern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, that covers some 11,585 km² (4,473 mi²). Waziristan comprises the area west and southwest of Peshawar between the Tochi River to the north and the Gomal River to the south, forming part of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa lies immediately to the east. The region was an independent tribal territory from 1893, remaining outside of British-ruled empire and Afghanistan. Tribal raiding into British-ruled territory was a constant problem for the British, requiring frequent punitive expeditions between 1860 and 1945. Troops of the British Raj coined a name for this region "Hell's Door Knocker" in recognition of the fearsome reputation of the local fighters and inhospitable terrain. The region became part of Pakistan in 1947.

Waziristan is divided into two "agencies", North Waziristan and South Waziristan, with estimated populations in 1998 of 361,246 and 429,841 respectively. The two parts have quite distinct characteristics, though both tribes are subgroups of the Waziri tribe, after whom the region is named, and speak a common Waziri language. They have a reputation as warriors and are known for their frequent blood feuds. Traditionally, feuding local Waziri religious leaders have enlisted outsiders in the Pakistani government, and more recently U.S. forces hunting al-Qaeda fugitives—in attempts at score-settling. The tribes are divided into sub-tribes governed by male village elders who meet in a tribal jirga. Socially and religiously, Waziristan is an extremely conservative area. Women are carefully guarded, and every household must be headed by a male figure. Tribal cohesiveness is strong through so-called Collective Responsibility Acts in the Frontier Crimes Regulation.