The Bomber Factory

When he went to live & study in Connecticut, relatives left behind near the hotbed of terrorist training thought Faisal had gone secular, material and western... He wasn't a likely recruit for radical Islam.

A donkey cart drives past a house owned by the family of Times Square bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad, in Peshawar, Pakistan. (AP)

Is there a link between personal depression, recession repossession & reversal of financial fortune and Shahzad's bombing attempt?

Afghanistan & Pakistan both have factions called Taliban, mostly ethnic Pastun tribesmen, many within the lawless Pakistani frontier provinces of North & South Waziristan. BBC correspondent Owen Bennett-Jones is in Pakistan investigating their appeal and popular support, along with the roots of radicalization.

There are elements of economics and class struggle underlying religious radicalization in South Asia, and among Pakistani émigrés.

Audio: BBC, PRI & WBUR's Here & Now 5/5/10, Host: Robin Young.