The Kremlin's apparent willingness brazenly now to strike at its foes wherever they may be is all too reminiscent of past, ruthless measures taken by Russian and Soviet rulers to crush internal and external dissent.
Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), of which Khyber is a part, is essentially a buffer between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and was carved by British colonial rulers out of Afghan territory as a bulwark against a possible Russian invasion of British India.