PESHAWAR: Despite the fact that new battlegrounds have sprung up in Africa and the Middle East, the number of foreign militant recruits smuggled into the north-western tribal belt of the country is increasing and they now come from more diverse countries.
As Washington and Nato prepare to end their combat mission in Afghanistan, the Taliban say their foreign allies are drawn to other conflicts, despite their support networks in a region outside direct government control.
Al Qaeda is shifting its focus to Syria, Libya, Iraq or Mali, one member of the Afghan Taliban told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Local officials estimate the number of Arab fighters has fallen by more than a half or two-thirds in the last 10 years.
In the last two years, some al Qaeda Arabs left to take part in the civil war in Syria and the uprising in Libya. Others migrated to Iraq in 2003, and some to Somalia and Yemen.
But Saifullah Khan Mehsud, executive director of the Fata Research Centre, says uprisings in the Middle East have had a minimal effect on the Arab presence in Pakistan.
Arab fighters are not leaving in big numbers, he told AFP. They have been there for 30 years and it continues, he added.
The number of fighters from other countries is also rising, say witnesses in Miramshah, North Waziristan the district with the largest concentration of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters.
More nationalities, same problems
Most of the current crop are Turkmens and Uzbeks, numbering between 1,000 and 3,000 fighters, according to officials, who have fled authoritarian secular regimes in their home countries to set up their own groups.
However, US officials say covert drone strikes have played a huge role in destroying training camps and disrupting al Qaeda in Pakistan.
Although North Waziristan locals say the strikes kill more Taliban than al Qaeda operatives, they have condemned foreign fighters to a life underground.
They are low profile, they dress like locals, they avoid big meetings and above all they move all the time, a journalist told AFP.
Mehsud says that foreigners are coming from a more diverse number of countries than in years past.
A few months ago, we even welcomed some (two or three) people from Fiji for the first time! says the Taliban member who spoke with AFP.
There are more nationalities because they face the same problems. They tell us that they feel left aside by capitalism and discriminated by unfair laws, like the Swiss one on minarets or the French one on hijabs, he adds.
However, local and Western officials say the number of Western militants have fallen to dozens compared to the several hundreds a few years ago.
Jihadis flock to Pakistan from more diverse backgrounds The Express Tribune
