Pakistan, which since 9/11 has come to be seen as one of the world’s most dangerous places and has been referred to as “the epicenter of international terrorism,” faces an acute counterterrorism (CT) challenge. The book focuses on violence being perpetrated against the Pakistani state by Islamist groups and how Pakistan can address these challenges, concentrating not only on military aspects but on the often-ignored political, legal, law enforcement, financial, and technological facets of the challenge.

Edited by Moeed Yusuf of the US Institute of Peace, and featuring the contributions and insights of Pakistani policy practitioners and scholars as well as international specialists with deep expertise in the region, the volume explores the current debate surrounding Pakistan’s ability—and incentives—to crack down on Islamist terrorism and provides an in-depth examination of the multiple facets of this existential threat confronting the Pakistani state and people.

The book pays special attention to the non-traditional functions of force that are central to Pakistan’s ability to subdue militancy but which have not received the deserved attention from the Pakistani state nor from western experts. In particular, this path-breaking volume, the first to explore these various facets holistically, focuses on the weakness of political institutions, the role of policing, criminal justice systems, choking financing for militancy, and regulating the use of media and technology by militants. Military force alone, also examined in this volume, will not solve Pakistan’s Islamist challenge. With original insights and attention to detail, the authors provide a roadmap for Western and Pakistani policymakers alike to address the weaknesses in Pakistan’s CT strategy.

Moeed Yusuf is the director of South Asia Programs at the US Institute of Peace. Prior to joining USIP, Yusuf was a fellow at the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future at Boston University and concurrently a research fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He is coeditor of South Asia 2060: Envisioning Regional Futures and Getting It Right in Afghanistan, and editor of Insurgency and Counterinsurgency in South Asia: Through a Peacebuilding Lens. 

IntroductionMoeed Yusuf

1. Pakistan’s Militancy Challenge: From Where to What?Moeed Yusuf with contributions from Megan Neville, Ayesha Chugh, and Stephanie Flamenbaum2. Militancy and Extremism in Pakistan: A US PerspectiveMarvin G. Weinbaum3. Counterinsurgency: The Myth of Sisyphus?Ejaz Haider4. Political Instability and Its Implications for an Effective National Counterterrorism Policy in PakistanSavail Meekal Hussain and Mehreen Zahra-Malik5. Counterterrorism Efforts of Law Enforcement Agencies in PakistanSuhail Habib Tajik6. Legal Challenges to Military Operations in Pakistan: The Case of the Federally and Provincially Administered Tribal AreasAhmer Bilal Soofi7. Choking Financing for Militants in PakistanMuhammad Amir Rana8. Cyberia: A New Warzone for Pakistan’s IslamistsZafarullah Khan9. Pakistan’s Paradoxical SurvivalAnatol Lieven

ConclusionMoeed Yusuf

ReferencesList of ContributorsIndex