Waziristan

The headline reads US drone strike kills seven in North Waziristan. It should probably read "Pakistani intelligence officials say a US drone strike has killed five suspect [-ed terrorist] -s in the tribal region near the Afghan border". (The number changes depending on which link you follow.)

Is there really such a place as Waziristan? I thought I had a pretty good idea of extant of stan-ishness, I mean we've got:

• Afghanistan,
• Kazakhstan,
• Kyrgyzstan,
• Pakistan,
• Tajikistan,
• Turkmenistan and
• Uzbekistan

So where is this what-zis-stan, Waziristan? Turns out it's part of Pakistan, the same part of Pakistan where French special forces actors ran into trouble. It is not a separate country, at least not yet.