North-West Frontier Province

In Pakistan, the Northwest Frontier Province is a semi-autonomous area which is bordered on to the north by Afghanistan and west by the also semi-autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Area. Its capital is Peshawar.

(CC) Image: Pahari Sahib
The green portion of this map is the NWFP, while the blue is the FATA

The inhabitants are largely Pashtun, with ethnic ties across the border into Afghanistan, making the international border only a concept to tribes. Nevertheless, the area is not all Pashtun; when, in May 2008, the government renamed NWFP the Pukhtunkhwa (Land of the Pashtuns), other groups resented it.

Swat Valley, where the most intense fighting in May 2009 is taking place, is in the north-central part of the NWFP.