WAZIRISTAN: Recessional

Technically, Waziristan is a country. It is also the scene of one of Britain's most dogged (and futile) essays in civilization. A ragged parallelogram of 5,200 square miles of barren territory, it is tucked away at the southwest corner of the North West Frontier, at a point where the Punjab and Kashmir reach out toward Afghanistan and Baluchistan. It is inhabited by various tribes who, finding their land too poor for a decent standard of living, have for years supported themselves by raids on their less impoverished neighbors .

Z-Day. Said Sir Denys Bray, British Foreign Secretary, in 1923: "Come...

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