Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)
a remote, quasi-autonomous, and loosely governed Pakistani region on the border with Afghanistan. Inhabited by about five million people, primarily Pashtuns, the region is home to many militants, including senior al-Qaeda and Taliban figures. Militants in the FATA became a primary target of U.S. drone strikes after the Taliban, which harbored al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, was toppled.