As made abundantly clear in the classified documents recently made public by WikiLeaks, Pakistan is the keystone in the international fight against terrorism today. After the US-led coalition targeted terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan, these groups, including al Qaeda and the Taliban, relocated to the Federally Administered Tribal Area of Pakistan. From its base in this remote, inhospitable region of Pakistan, al Qaeda and its associated cells have planned, prepared, and executed numerous terrorist attacks around the world, in addition to supporting and waging insurgencies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, and elsewhere.

This book is the first detailed analysis of the myriad insurgent groups working in Pakistan. Written by well-known expert on global terrorism Rohan Gunaratna and Khuram Iqbal, a leading scholar in Pakistan, the book examines and reviews the nature, structure, and agendas of the groups, their links to activists in other countries, such as India and Iran, and the difficulties of defeating terrorism in this part of the world. Drawing on extensive field research and interviews with government officials and former terrorists, the authors argue that Pakistan faces grave and continuing pressures from within, and that without steadfast international goodwill and support, the threats of extremism, terrorism, and insurgency will continue to grow.

This timely and necessary book argues that if the international community is to win the battle against ideological extremism and operational terrorism around the world, then Pakistan should be in the vanguard of the fight.

Rohan Gunaratna is head of the International Centre on Political Violence and Terrorism Research and professor of security studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Khuram Iqbal is head of research at the Pak Institute for Peace Studies in Islamabad, Pakistan, where he has conducted extensive field research on Islamist organizations, suicide terrorism, radicalization, and madrassas in Pakistan.

Acronyms
Introduction

1. Tribal Pakistan: The Epicentre of Global Terrorism
2. Understanding the Pakistani Taliban
3. Terrorism and Karachi
4. Mainland Pakistan Terrorist Groups
5. Instability in the Region: The Wider Effect of Militancy in Pakistan
6. The Suicide Terrorist Threat in Pakistan
7. Is Pakistan the Ground Zero of Terrorism?

Appendices
    Suicide Attacks in Pakistan (1995–2009)
     US Drone Strikes in Pakistan (2005–February 2010)
References
Bibliography
Index