Waziristan, one of the main reasons why the western coalition lost the Afghan war

Waziristan is a key player in the Afghanistan war. It is a very conservative Pashtun-speaking society with strong ties to the Afghan Taliban. It has been very difficult to control, both by the Pakistani government and by the Western occupation alliance in neighboring Afghanistan. Waziristan is a mountainous region in north-western Pakistan that borders Afghanistan. It has an area of ​​11,585 km². It comprises the area to the west and southwest of the Peshawar region between the Tochi rivers to the north and the Gomal rivers to the south. The population is approximately 1.5 million people, approximately 900,000 in Norh Waziristan and 600,000 in South Waziristan. In 1998, a population of 791 087 inhabitants was estimated. Waziristan is divided into two regions: North Waziristan, with 61,246 inhabitants (1998) and South Waziristan, with a population of 429,841 inhabitants. Its inhabitants speak a dialect of Pashto, called wazirwola (Pashtun is the main language in Afghanistan). In the first stage of the US invasion of Afghanistan, when the Taliban began to flee to Pakistan, local leaders, or Maliks, began a campaign among their locals to welcome foreigners. Since then, around 200 Malik have been killed by local Taliban through targeted killings. [Appointment required] To end the Waziristan war, Pakistan signed the Waziristan Agreement with the heads of the self-styled Islamic Emirate of Waziristan on September 5, 2006. Islamic militants in Waziristan are said to have close affiliations with the Taliban. [13] Waziristan is often mentioned as a haven for al Qaeda fighters. It is speculated that some al-Qaeda leaders have found refuge in the emirate-controlled area, which is a scene of militant operations in Afghanistan [14]. On June 4, 2007, the Pakistan National Security Council met to decide the fate of Waziristan and to address a number of political and administrative issues to control the "Talibanization" of the area. The meeting was chaired by President Pervez Musharraf and was attended by the main ministers and governors of the four provinces. They discussed the deterioration of the situation of law and order and the threat it represents to the security of the state. The government decided to take a series of measures to stop the "Talibanization" and crush the armed militancy in the tribal regions and the NTFP. Due to ongoing military operations against the Taliban, almost 100,000 people have already fled to the Afghan province of Khost to seek refuge. The UN and other aid agencies are assisting more than 470,000 people who have been displaced from Pakistan's North Waziristan region due to ongoing military operations. The Wazir tribes are divided into clans ruled by male elders who meet in a tribal jirga. Socially and religiously, Waziristan is an extremely conservative area. Women are carefully protected, and each household must be headed by a male figure. The capital of North Waziristan is Miramshah. The area is mainly inhabited by the Dawar tribe and the Utmanzai branch of Darwesh Khel Waziris, which are related to Ahmedzai Waziris of southern Waziristan, living in fortified mountain villages such as Razmak, Datta Khel, Spin wam, Dosali, Shawa and Shawal. The Dawars (also known as Daurr or Daur), who live in the main Tochi valley, cultivate in the valleys below in towns such as Miramshah, Hamzoni, Darpakhel, Muhammadkhel, Boya, Degan, Banda, Ngharkali, Palangzai, Mirali, Edak , Hurmaz. , Mussaki, Hassukhel, Ziraki, Tapi, Issori, Haiderkhel and Khaddi watered by the Tochi river. not under the direct administration of the government of Pakistan, South Waziristan is indirectly governed by a political agent, who has been a stranger or a waziri, a system inherited from the British Raj. In the South Waziristan Agency, there are three tribes, Wazir, Maseed and Burki. Burki and Urmarh are the same tribe. The South Waziristan Agency has its district headquarters in Wanna. Comprising some 6,500 square kilometers (2,500 square miles), South Waziristan is the most volatile agency in Pakistan. Its capital is Wanna.

¿Why are there so many countries whose names ends in -stan?

Some examples are Afghanistan, Kazakhstan or Pakistan

The suffix -stan is an anglicised version of the Persian for ‘place of’. It is connected linguistically to the Pashto -tun and to –sthāna in Indo-Aryan languages.

These derive from Proto-Indo-Iranian-European roots based on ‘stā’ meaning ‘to stand; where one stands’.

Its widespread use may be a result of commonly developing languages of various communities of nomadic people across central Asian areas over time.

The same root is also the source of the Latin ‘stare’ (to stand) and from there to English words such as stand, state and status.

Other derivatives are the Russian word стан (stan) referring to settlements/camps of semi-nomadic people of Central Asia; some Slavic languages where stan originally meant ‘settlement’ but more recently has come to mean 'apartment'.

The root can be found in various Germanic languages for exemple in Stand and Stadt (German), stad (Dutch/Scandinavian), Stan (Polish) and stead (English; as in ‘homestead’).

The –stan suffix often simply meant ‘land of the …..’. So Uzbekistan = land of the Uzbecki people; Afghanistan = land of the Afghani people; and so on.

Pakistan does not follow this construction. The name Pakistan is not derived as the land of some (historical) ‘Paki’ people but means Land of the Pure. The difference is because Pakistan is a new, and invented, name to describe a politically-defined area and not a historical word for the traditional homelands of a single long-established cultural/ethnic group of people. I

In a number of languages the –stan ending is also used more generally within everyday words: as in the Urdu rigestan (a place of sand ie desert), as in golestan (a place of roses ie rose garden); as in qabristan, (a place of graves ie cemetery or graveyard); and as in the Hindi/Sanskrit devasthan (place of devas ie temple).

In English there are seven ‘obvious’ recognised countries whose names end in –stan. These are: Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.

The same linguistic root also shows through in the names for different countries in other languages. For example Arabestan (Persian for Saudi Arabia), Armanestan (Persian for Armenia), Bulgaristan (Turkish for Bulgaria), Chinastan (Armenian for China), Ermenistan (Turkish for Armenia), Hunastan (Armenian for Greece), Hayastan ( Armenia in Armenian), Gurjistan (Georgia in Persian and Turkish), Lehastan/ Lehestan (Armenian and Persian for Poland; and the older Ottoman use referring to the Polish empire ; derived from name of ancient Lęch tribes), Macaristan (Hungary in Turkish), Parsqastan (Iran in Armenian), Rusastan (Armenian for Russia), Vrastan (Armenian for Greece) and Yunanistan (Turkish for Greece), Engelestan (Persian for England). Hirvatistan (the Turkish name for Croatia) and Sırbistan (the Turkish name for Serbia).

These are far from fixed names. There are older usages that have become obsolete. Language is an evolving thing and this is as true of names of places as for other changes in language usage. Some regions are regarded as ‘independent’ by some groups but not by others.

What counts as a country can be a complicated question. For a good summary the reader is referred to the Economist article ‘In quite a state: How many countries in the world?’ (www.economist.com/node/15868439). This describes how on one set of criteria a place may be included as a country on some lists yet be excluded on other lists (because not officially recognised by the owners of that list).

Many of the regions whose names end in –stan are in areas that are diverse and multi-ethnic with boundaries that are the result of historical events. The boundaries, name, or existence of some –stans may therefore be matters for disagreements.

Even for disputed territories, however, the linguistics can still apply: Chechenestan is the Persian and Turkish name for Chechenya. South Ossetia is another self-proclaimed state which has varying degrees of formal recognition. Iriston/Iristan (from aryi+stan) is a self-proclaimed name of Ossetia.

Regions/ towns whose names end in –stan (an extensive but probably incomplete list; includes some descriptions that might be disputed by groups seeking independence of / or opposed to independence from certain historical arrangements).

Arabistan — refers to Arabian peninsular lands in Middle East; was also historically used in some reports to refer to Khuzestan

Ardestan — a town, founded in ancient Sassanian times, in Isfahan Province, Iran.

Avaristan — the Avari name for homeland in Western Dagestan (fromC12th to C19th).

Baharestan - is an area in downtown Tehran where the Iranian Parliament is located.

Balawaristan — (balawar = highlander); another name for northern Pakistani Kashmir; alternative name for Gilgit- Baltistan).

Balochistan/ Baluchistan — regions in Iran, in Afghanistan and in Pakistan. Baltistan — a mountainous northern region in Kashmir Pakistan.

Bantustan — used to refer to Apartheid-era South African black 'homeland' areas. Bargustan/Borgustan — an area to the north of modern Kislovodsk, Russia. Bashkortostan (Bashkiria) — a constituent republic of Russia. Baloristan (Gilgit-Chitral) - the name of a region of Pakistani Kashmir.

Cholistan Desert — a desert region in Punjab, Pakistan. 
Dagestan —(literally "place of mountains") an ethnically-diverse, North Caucasian, constituent republic of the Russian Federation.

Dardistan — ‘area inhabited by the Dards’; is a region spreading over northern Pakistan, Indian Punjab and North Eastern Afghanistan.

Dashtestan — a region in Bushehr Province, Iran. East Pakistan (or Bangalistan / Bangistan - refers to the historic name for preindependence Bangladesh).

Frangistan/ Frengistan/ Frankistan - a central Asian term used to refer to Western Europe in general (Based on Europeans being known as Franks).

Gulistan/Golestan - a province in northern Iran and a city in Uzbekistan. Hazarastan/ Hazaristan - the homeland of the Hazara people in central highlands of Afghanistan.

Hindustan — (land of the Indus/ Hindus). Coined by the ancient Persians. Also used by the British ruling in the former British India when generally talking about South Asia. Now primarily refers Republic of India.

Hunistan — ‘kingdom of the Huns’; in Semnon Province, Iran.

Kabulistan — (‘The Kabul land’). An old term used in many historical books and old Persian literature books for an area around Kabul, larger region than today's Kabul Province.

Kafiristan — (‘land of the infidels’). An historic region in Afghanistan until 1896, now known as Nuristan. A similarly named region exists in north Pakistan.

Karakalpakstan — an autonomous republic of Uzbekistan. Khuzestan — a province of south-western Iran. Kohistan — there are several districts with this name in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, in Tajikistan and in Iran. Kurdistan — a Kurdish region spanning Eastern Turkey, Northern Iraq, North western Iran and Northern Syria. Lazistan — a name for a region in the Caucasus; home of the Lazuri speaking people. Has been part of a series of occupations and empires. In 1922 the area was split between the then Soviet Union and Turkey. Lorestan/ Luristan/ Larestan — a province of Iran. Moghulistan (Mughalistan) — an historical geographic unit in Central Asia that included parts of modern-day Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Xinjiang. Nuristan Province — Afghanistan; formerly was an area that was known as Kafiristan (land of the infidels) but changed its name to Nuristan (land of light) when area converted to Islam.

Pashtunistan or Pakhtunistan or Pathanistan — what many Pashtun nationalists call the Pashtun-dominated areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Registan - (meaning "place of sand") a UNESCO World Heritage Site in central Samarkand, Uzbekistan. This large open space was a public gathering area between three madrassas.

Sakastan — historically, a region of Afghanistan/ Pakistan where the Scythians or Sakas lived in the 2nd century BC.

Sarvestan — a town in Fars Province, Iran. Seistan or Sistan — a border province between North Eastern Iran and South Western Afghanistan.

Tabaristan — an historical region along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. Takestan/ Takistan — a town in Qazvin Province, Iran.

Talyshistan — an ethnolinguistic region in the SE Caucasus and NW Iran.

Tangestan — a region in Bushehr Province, Iran. Tatarstan — a constituent republic in the Volga District of the Russian Federation.

Tocharistan, Tukharistan or Tokharistan, also known as Balkh or Bactria — the ancient name of a historical region in Central Asia, located between the range of the Hindu Kush and the Amu Darya (Oxus). Turkistan/Turkestan — an ethnolinguistic region encompassing Central Asia, northwest China, parts of the Caucasus and Asia Minor; Russian Turkestan refers to that portion of Turkestan that was in the Russian Empire, later becoming Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. There are also Afghan Turkistan and Chinese Turkistan, Xinjang area). The city of Turkestan is in present-day Kazakhstan.

Waziristan (North and South) —semi-autonomous regions of northwest Pakistan. Zabulistan — an historical region in the border area of today's Iran and Afghanistan, around the city Zabol.

Zanjistan, or Zenjistan — a term used in medieval texts to refer to the homeland of the Zanj, ie black slaves of East African origin, ie area around Zanzibar. 
Reference:
http://thewordsthething.org.uk/Countries%20ending%20in%20Stan.pdf

The never ending Kashmir crisis

Kashmir is one of the regions of the world where conflict has more endured  in the last 75 years.

As in several other places, this conflict has been inherited from the times of  British domination of India during the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century.

At the time of its retreat from India the British authorities promoted the division of the territory between Muslims and Hindus forming Pakistán and India and the migration of millions. 

In Kashmir the division created an Indian province that is mainly populated by Muslims, generating a very unstable situation since then.

 Geography

Kashmir is a region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent extending along the India, Pakistan and China boundaries.

It is bounded by the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang to the northeast and the Tibet Autonomous Region to the east (both parts of China), by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesy and Punjab to the south, by Pakistan to the west, and by Afghanistan to the northwest.

The region, with a total area of some 85,800 square miles 222,200 square km, has been the subject of dispute between India and Pakistan since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947.

The northern and western portions are administered by Pakistan and comprise three areas: Azad Kashmir, Gilgit and Baltistan, the last two being part of a territory called the Northern Areas.

The southern and southeastern portions are administered by India. They constitute the state of Jammu and Kashmir but are slated to be split into two union territories.

The Indian- and Pakistani-administered portions are divided by a “line of control” agreed to in 1972, although neither country recognizes it as an international boundary. In addition, China became active in the eastern area of Kashmir in the 1950s and has controlled the northeastern part of Ladakh (the easternmost portion of the region) since 1962.

Land And People

The Kashmir region is predominantly mountainous, with deep, narrow valleys and high, barren plateaus. The relatively low-lying Jammu and Punch (Poonch) plains in the southwest are separated by the thickly forested Himalayan foothills and the Pir Panjal Range of the Lesser Himalayas from the larger, more fertile, and more heavily populated Vale of Kashmir to the north. The vale, situated at an elevation of about 5,300 feet (1,600 metres), constitutes the basin of the upper Jheñi, Rover and contains the city of Srinagar. Jammu and the vale lie in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, while the Punch lowlands are largely in Azad Kashmir

In the 1901 Census of the British Indian Empire, the population of the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu was 2,905,578. Of these, 2,154,695 (74.16%) were Muslims, 689,073 (23.72%) Hindus, 25,828 (0.89%) Sikhs, and 35,047 (1.21%) Buddhists (implying 935 (0.032%) others).

A Muslim shawl-making family shown in Cashmere shawl manufactory, 1867, chromolith., William Simpson.A group of Kashmiri Pandits, natives of Kashmir Valley belong to one of the prominent Shaiva sects of Hinduism, shown in 1895.

Among the Muslims of the Kashmir province within the princely state, four divisions were recorded: "Shaikhs, Saiyids, Mughals, and Pathans. The Shaikhs, who are by far the most numerous, are the descendants of Hindus, but have retained none of the caste rules of their forefathers. They have clan names known as krams ..." These kram names included "Tantre", "Shaikh", "Bat", "Manto", "Ganai", "Dar", "Lon", "Wani" etc. The “Saiyids"could be divided into those who follow the profession of religion and those who have taken to agriculture and other pursuits. Their kram name is 'Mir.' While a Saiyid retains his saintly profession Mir is a prefix; if he has taken to agriculture, Mir is an affix to his name.” The Mughals who were not numerous had kram names like "Mir" (a corruption of "Mirza"), "Beg", "Bandi", "Bach" and "Ashaye". Finally, it was recorded that the Pathans "who are more numerous than the Mughals, ... are found chiefly in the south-west of the valley, where Pathan colonies have from time to time been founded. The most interesting of these colonies is that of Kuki-Khel Afridis at Dranghaihama, who retain all the old customs and speak Pashto." Among the main tribes of Muslims in the princely state are the Butts, Dar, Lone, Jat, Gujjar, Rajput, Sudhan and Khatri. Some Kashmiri families belonging to Butt, Lone and Wani/Wain clans use the title of Khawaja which was given to them by Mughal governors as these families were associated with Mughal Darbar. The Khatri use the title Shaikh and the Gujjar use the title Chaudhary. All these tribes are indigenous to the princely state which converted to Islam from Hinduism during its arrival in the region.

The Hindus were found mainly in Jammu, where they constituted a little less than 60% of the population. In the Kashmir Valley, the Hindus represented "524 in every 10,000 of the population (i.e. 5.24%), and in the frontier wazarats of Ladhakh and Gilgit only 94 out of every 10,000 persons (0.94%)."^[80] In the same Census of 1901, in the Kashmir Valley, the total population was recorded to be 1,157,394, of which the Muslim population was 1,083,766, or 93.6% and the Hindu population 60,641.^[80] Among the Hindus of Jammu province, who numbered 626,177 (or 90.87% of the Hindu population of the princely state), the most important castes recorded in the census were "Brahmans (186,000), the Rajputs (167,000), the Khattris (48,000) and the Thakkars (93,000)."

In the 1911 Census of the British Indian Empire, the total population of Kashmir and Jammuhad increased to 3,158,126. Of these, 2,398,320 (75.94%) were Muslims, 696,830 (22.06%) Hindus, 31,658 (1%) Sikhs, and 36,512 (1.16%) Buddhists.

 In the last census of British India in 1941, the total population of Kashmir and Jammu (which as a result of the second world war, was estimated from the 1931 census) was 3,945,000. Of these, the total Muslim population was 2,997,000 (75.97%), the Hindu population was 808,000 (20.48%), and the Sikh 55,000 (1.39%).^[81]

The Kashmiri Pandits, the only Hindus of the Kashmir valley, who had stably constituted approximately 4 to 5% of the population of the valley during Dogra rule (1846–1947), and 20% of whom had left the Kashmir valley by 1950,^[82] began to leave in much greater numbers in the 1990s. According to a number of authors, approximately 100,000 of the total Kashmiri Pandit population of 140,000 left the valley during that decade.^[83] Other authors have suggested a higher figure for the exodus, ranging from the entire population of over 150^[84] to 190 thousand (1.5 to 190,000) of a total Pandit population of 200 thousand (200,000)^[85] to a number as high as 300 thousand^[86] (300,000).

People in Jammu speak Hindi, Punjabi and Dogri, the Vale of Kashmir speaks Kashmiri and the sparsely inhabited Ladakh region speaks Tibetan and Balti.^[87]

The total population of India's division of Jammu and Kashmir is 12,541,302^[88] and Pakistan's division of Kashmir is 2,580,000 and Gilgit-Baltistan is 870,347.^[89]

India has control of about half the area of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, which continues the name Jammu and Kashmir, while Pakistan controls a third of the region, divided into two de factoprovinces, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir.

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "Although there was a clear Muslim majority in Kashmir before the 1947 partition and its economic, cultural, and geographic contiguity with the Muslim-majority area of the Punjab (in Pakistan) could be convincingly demonstrated, the political developments during and after the partition resulted in a division of the region. Pakistan was left with territory that, although basically Muslim in character, was thinly populated, relatively inaccessible, and economically underdeveloped. The largest Muslim group, situated in the Valley of Kashmir and estimated to number more than half the population of the entire region, lay in Indian-administered territory, with its former outlets via the Jhelum valley route blocked."

India has control of about half the area of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, which continues the name Jammu and Kashmir, while Pakistan controls a third of the region, divided into two de factoprovinces, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir.

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "Although there was a clear Muslim majority in Kashmir before the 1947 partition and its economic, cultural, and geographic contiguity with the Muslim-majority area of the Punjab (in Pakistan) could be convincingly demonstrated, the political developments during and after the partition resulted in a division of the region. Pakistan was left with territory that, although basically Muslim in character, was thinly populated, relatively inaccessible, and economically underdeveloped. The largest Muslim group, situated in the Valley of Kashmir and estimated to number more than half the population of the entire region, lay in Indian-administered territory, with its former outlets via the Jhelum valley route blocked."

Kashmir, a centuries-old conflict that still is going on

The Kashmir region also called Jammu and Kashmir is a mountainous region in the vicinity of the Karakoram and westernmost Himalayan mountain ranges of the Indian subcontinente.  

Kashmir, formerly one of the largest princely states of India, has an area of 225,000 km2 and since the partition of the subcontinent in 1947 has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan and China ´

The region was divided amongst these three countries in a territorial dispute: Pakistan controls the northwest portion (Northern Areas and Kashmir), India controls the central and southern portion (Jammu and Kashmir) and Ladakh, and the People's Republic of China controls the northeastern portion (Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract). India controls the majority of the Siachen Glacier area, including the Saltoro Ridge passes, whilst Pakistan controls the lower territory just southwest of the Saltoro Ridge. India controls 101,338 km2 of the disputed territory, Pakistan controls 85,846 km2 , and the People's Republic of China controls the remaining 37,555 km2 

The population of the entire region is about 16 million of which the majority are in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir (12.5 million).

Although there was a clear Muslim majority in Kashmir before the 1947 partition and its economic, cultural, and geographic contiguity with the Muslim-majority area of the Punjab (in Pakistan) could be convincingly demonstrated, the political developments during and after the partition resulted in a division of the region. Pakistan was left with territory that, although basically Muslim in character, was thinly populated, relatively inaccessible, and economically underdeveloped. The largest Muslim group, situated in the Valley of Kashmir and estimated to number more than half the population of the entire region, lay in Indian-administered territory, with its former outlets via the Jhelum valley route blocked.

The eastern region of the former princely state of Kashmir was also involved in a boundary dispute that began in the late 19th century and continues into the 21st. Although some boundary agreements were signed between Great Britain, Afghanistan and Russia over the northern borders of Kashmir, China never accepted these agreements, and China's official position has not changed following the communist revolution of  1949 that established the People's Republic of China. By the mid-1950s the Chinese had entered the north-east portion of Ladakh.

"By 1956–57 they had completed a military road through the Aksar Chin area to vide better communication between Xinjiang and  western  Tibet. India's belated discovery of this road led to border clashes between the two countries that culminated in the Sino.Indian war of October 1962.

The main preent conflicts are mainly between India and Pakistan, with the large Muslin population in the Indian state Jammu-Kashmir do not agree with their belonging to an Indian state and are more linked to the Pakistan Kashmir population.  This conflict, which is at least 70 years old is still going on in 2019 and skirmiches and aerial bombing continues to take place and will probably still go on for many years in the future..