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.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Moeed Yusuf
1. Pakistan’s Militancy Challenge: From Where to What?
Moeed Yusuf with contributions from Megan Neville, Ayesha Chugh, and Stephanie Flamenbaum
2. Militancy and Extremism in Pakistan: A US Perspective
Marvin G. Weinbaum
3. Counterinsurgency: The Myth of Sisyphus?
Ejaz Haider
4. Political Instability and Its Implications for an Effective National Counterterrorism Policy in Pakistan
Savail Meekal Hussain and Mehreen Zahra-Malik
5. Counterterrorism Efforts of Law Enforcement Agencies in Pakistan
Suhail Habib Tajik
6. Legal Challenges to Military Operations in Pakistan: The Case of the Federally and Provincially Administered Tribal Areas
Ahmer Bilal Soofi
7. Choking Financing for Militants in Pakistan
Muhammad Amir Rana
8. Cyberia: A New Warzone for Pakistan’s Islamists
Zafarullah Khan
9. Pakistan’s Paradoxical Survival
Anatol Lieven
Conclusion
Moeed Yusuf
References
List of Contributors
Index
Reviews
"This edited volume is not only timely but addresses a pertinent, complex and under-researched issue using an unusually holistic lens of analysis. . . . An important contribution to the literature and will be of interest to both laypersons as well as those who are already much more familiar with the complex landscape of Pakistani [counter-terrorism]."—South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies
"Pakistan’s Counterterrorism Challenge offers important ideas and refreshingly combines experience with scholarship. There are many powerful insights into specific case studies. . . . Scholars and policymakers will find this book valuable in understanding Pakistan’s counter-terrorism challenges and locating key areas that the government can improve and fill gaps in operations against militants."—Intelligence and National Security
"The book stands out for being a very comprehensive, brilliantly insightful analysis of the terrorist challenge in Pakistan, its impact on global security, and the possible way forward. A must-read for anyone interested in having a holistic and objective view of terrorism in Pakistan."—Tariq Parvez, former National Coordinator, National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), Pakistan, and former director general, Federal Investigation Agency, Pakistan
"Moeed Yusuf has brought together top analysts to assess Pakistan's counterterrorism challenge, and they have provided a sobering analysis. Uniformly rigorous and extremely well-informed, they outline Pakistan's deep challenges: lack of policy clarity, lack of coordination, and unresolved civil-military relations. Yet in a brilliant finale, the book describes Pakistan's 'survival of internal paradoxes' that keeps it stable while satisfying no one. These essays are required reading for those grappling with Pakistan's post-2014 future."—Cameron Munter, professor of International Relations, Pomona College. Served as US Ambassador to Pakistan 2010-12.
"It is hard to understate the significance of Pakistan's terrorism and militancy problem which has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Pakistanis. Terrorists have also succeeded in killing so many of Pakistan's leading politicians, not least two-time Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. At the same time, Pakistan has also incubated the groups that have perpetrated some of the deadliest terrorist attacks of the past decade, from the London Underground bombings of July 7, 2005, to the assaults in Mumbai in November 2008. Therefore it is especially fitting that Moeed Yusuf, one of the world's leading experts on Pakistan, has assembled an all star cast of Pakistan experts to consider how best to understand this scourge and what to do about it. Yusuf's skillfully edited volume is essential to understanding Pakistan's security challenges and possible ways to deal with them."—Peter L. Bergen, author of Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden from 9/11 to Abbottabad
Contributors
Ayesha Chugh Stephanie Flamenbaum Ejaz Haider Savail Meekal Hussain Zafarullah Khan Anatol Lieven Megan Neville Muhammad Amir Rana Ahmer Bilal Soofi Suhail Habib Tajik Marvin G. Weinbaum Moeed Yusuf Mehreen Zahra-Malik
About the Author
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.
