February 15, 2008: While violence in
Pakistan and Afghanistan get lots of attention, most of the action in the
region is taking place far to the south, in Sri Lanka. There, a civil war
between ethnic Tamil separatists and the government, accounted for over half
the combat and terrorist deaths in the region (Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal,
Bangladesh) this year. It's true that Pakistan and Afghanistan account for most
of the remainder, and largely because international terrorist organizations
like al Qaeda have set up their bases along the Pakistani-Afghan border. But
most of the fighting is now going on far to the south, where the 25 year old
civil war is grinding to a conclusion (with the rebels losing.)
Sri Lanka is in the tropics, so weather
does not slow down the violence, as does Winter in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Thus, while nearly 8,000 have died in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the last
year, nearly 3,000 have died in Sri Lanka. Even taking climate into account,
there's a pretty violent conflict taking place in that island nation off the
southern tip of India.
