fundamentalist islam, like all forms of fundamentalist religion, are the root cause, and all the footsoldiers of these religions are the majority of the population.

the only reason why they survive (like north korea) is because it's hard to eradicate them from their mountains. both countries have the same history in their wars. conventional warfare fails against mountain tyrants.

so, yeah, the places are sticky for tyranny. they should just be avoided. "some places just suck" is totally true in as far as once evil gets lodged in such places, it is almost impossible to dislodge.

this is also why i stay out of big cities. they are also hard to purge of criminality. the geography is similar, just on a different scale, hidden inside concrete walls instead of sandstone rock caves.

Its worst than you think.