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• “I expect the Shawal Valley region to be back in the headlines...”

If I'm not mistaken, Lwara, the American base in Afghanistan, is on the border of the Shawal Valley region. The Shawal valley is within the red circle in the center of the map below.

multimap.com

The above map came from MultiMap.com. Click the logo on the left to visit the best site on the internet for accurate and detailed maps of the entire world.

To orient yourself, find the city of Sargodha in the center of the map below. The Shawal valley area is just NW of the letter "S" of Sargodha, along the Afghani border.

--Boot Hill

Mushie now seems to have the blessing by the opposition. They only opposed on the ban of lodspeakers (Sic!)
http://www.dawn.com/2004/07/07/top5.htm

MMA agrees to Wana registration

By Our Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD, July 6: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal on Tuesday agreed to revise its policy on Wana by consenting to the proposed registration of foreigners living in tribal areas.

Secretary interior and secretary Fata gave a four-hour briefing to MMA leaders and government teams. The briefing was attended also by Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. Both sides unanimously condemned all forms and manifestations of terrorism.

The MMA was invited to the briefing by the prime minister. From the MMA's side, the briefing was attended by its acting president, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, secretary-general and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rahman, NWFP chief minister Akram Khan Durrani, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, Liaquat Baloch and tribal MNA Maulana Abdul Malik.

The prime minister was assisted by PML's secretary-general Mushahid Hussain Syed, NWFP Governor Lt-Gen (retd) Iftikhar Hussain, acting chairman of senate Khalilur Rahman, federal ministers Shaukat Aziz, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Ijazul Haq, Aftab Sherpao, Dr Ghazi Gulab Jamal and Senator Ajmal Khan. Former president Sardar Farooq Leghari and MQM's parliamentary leader Dr Farooq Sattar also attended the briefing.

Chaudhry Shujaat described the MMA's participation in consultations on security issues as highly commendable and encouraging and expressed the hope that it would continue in the future as well.

The government partially agreed to the six-party alliance's call for lifting the economic blockade of the South Waziristan Agency and assured that the relaxation period would be extended.

The MMA disagreed with the imposition of a ban on the use of loudspeakers in Sindh, and demanded that the use of loudspeakers be allowed for Friday sermons, and agreed to punish anyone violating the code of conduct or being involved in spreading sectarian disharmony.

Later, MMA's deputy parliamentary leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed told journalists: "The government attentively listened to our proposals for improving the law and order situation and both sides agreed that foreigners living in tribal areas will be persuaded to register themselves and that the relaxation in economic blockade would further be extended."

He said that some tribal elders had recently helped the process of normalisation by handing over some wanted elements. Mr Mushahid Hussain termed the briefing 'very positive' and result-oriented, especially in connection with removal of some misunderstandings.

MMA's leadership, he said, had assured its cooperation. He said the points on which both sides had agreed included an agreement on foreigners' registration in tribal areas and elimination of all forms of terrorism.

He said it was decided that a delegation of parliamentarians and elders would meet the NWFP governor to resolve the issue of economic sanctions on Wana.

Yes, Lwara is, I believe, the newest of three forward firebases in the area, l/t 3km from the border. There's Shkin which I believe is aka FB Purgatory, and a third one roughly where the Khost-Miram Shah road crosses the border upvalley from Wuzghai. Can't remember the name of that one.

The main FOB is obviously Orgun, and we have a large SOF base east of there, (Orgun-E) and numerous LP/OP's that change from day to day.

There are a few others, but these are the only one's I've seen referred to in open sopurce media, so they're the only one's I feel comfortable talking about in public.

Lwara, at least the one we are interested in, is, I believe, Lwara Mandi or a variant there-of, and if you have coordinates, it would be helpful. Not trying to get out of doing the work, I've searched and the phonetic spellings always seem to get the best of me, no joy to date, though I believe it is at the northern end of the Gangikhel Valley, the large flat alpine watershed just west of the border and of the Shawal Valley.