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Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) are areas of Pakistan outside any of the four provinces. Neighbouring regions are: Afghanistan to the west, North-West Frontier to the north, Punjab to the east and Balochistan to the south.
The region is nominally controlled by the central government of Pakistan. The tribes that inhabit the areas are fiercly independent, and battles have broken out in the past between the tribes and the Pakistani government. It is believed by some that Usama bin Laden is hiding with some sympathetic tribes in the FATA, but the validity of this is unknown.
See also: North-West Frontier, Pakistan, List of capitals of subnational entities, Balochistan, Pakistan, Politics of Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan