This International Crisis Group report examines the rise of militants in Pakistan's tribal areas.

Ashley J. Tellis, a prominent expert on South Asian security affairs, says President Bush’s effort to mediate the differences between the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan is unprecedented and underscores the seriousness of the problem between the two countries.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has reiterated that his government does not provide safe haven to Taliban leaders waging war in Afghanistan. At a Council on Foreign Relations briefing he warned against linking the large ethnic Pashtun population in western Pakistan with Taliban extremists.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is under increasing pressure from NATO and the United States to clamp down on Taliban militants, but internal resistance from Pakistani Islamists is preventing him from acting more forcefully.

The United States lists Somalia as a haven for terrorists, and indeed, evidence suggests terrorists are using the fractured state as an operational hub. Yet Somalia's current links to terrorism are tiny in comparison to the potential problem the country poses.

A number of terrorist organizations operate in Lebanon. Hezbollah, the most powerful of these groups, recently attacked Israel, stirring up regional tensions.