Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, also known as the War in North-West Pakistan or Pakistan's war on terror, is an ongoing armed conflict involving Pakistan and Islamist militant groups such as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Jundallah, Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI), TNSM, al-Qaeda, and their Central Asian allies such as the ISIL–Khorasan (ISIL), Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, East Turkistan Movement, Emirate of Caucasus, and elements of organized crime. Formerly a war, it is has now transformed into an insurgency, as of 2017.

The armed conflict began in 2004 when tensions rooted in the Pakistan Army's search for al-Qaeda fighters in Pakistan's mountainous Waziristan area (in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas) escalated into armed resistance. Pakistan's actions were presented as its contribution to the U.S. War on terror. The al-Qaeda terrorists fled Afghanistan seek refuge in the bordering Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Pakistan had already joined US led War on terror after 9/11 attacks under the Mussharaf administration. However, after the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001–2002, Al-Qaeda and its Taliban patrons crossed over Pakistan-Afghanistan border to seek refuge in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Pakistan. Resultantly, militants established control over seven tribal agencies of FATA.

Pakistan Army under the Pervez Musharraf administration launched operations with Battle of Wanna to hunt down al-Qaeda fighters. However, Pakistan security forces did not target Afghan Taliban as Taliban were not responsible for the twin-tower attacks. Subsequently, Pakistan Army failed to achieve its desired results. Pakistan Army's failure resulted in the Waziristan Accord which is considered to be failure on the part of army and Pervez Musharraf as the accord ceded FATA territories to the militants.

The insurgency turned into a critical issue for Pakistan when the Pakistan Army held a siege on the mosque of Lal-Masjid Islamabad to free foreigners taken hostage by the militants. Naming this operation as an attack on the "House of Allah", TTP declared Pakistan Army as an agent of Western powers and started a bloody campaign of suicide bombings throughout the country. Due to the Lal-Masjid Operation, the number of suicide attacks jumped from 10 in 2006 to 61 in 2007. Pakistan Armed Forces also bore the brunt of a number of terrorist attacks such as PNS Mehran attack, Kamra Airbase attack, and GHQ Rawalpindi attack.

With help of military campaigns, Pakistan Army was able to push back TTP into Afghanistan from where it continues to launch terrorist attacks on Pakistan. By 2014, the casualty rates from terrorism in the country as a whole dropped by 40% as compared to 2011–2013, with even greater drops noted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa despite a large massacre of schoolchildren by TTP terrorists in the province in December 2014. The reduction in hostilities eventually changed the conflict from a war to a relatively low-level conflict.

The TTP, after success of Operation Zarb-e-Azb in 2016 lost territory within Pakistan, and that is why terrorists started to act in the form of sleeper cells by 2017. To continue their nefarious activities Jamat-ul-Ahrar, one offshoot of TTP, launched Operation Ghazi in 2017 to reignite the insurgency. Pakistan Army, in order to counter Operation Ghazi of TTP and sanitize the country from the remaining militants, abettors, facilitators, and sleeper cells, launched Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad under its commander COAS Qamar Javed Bajwa. This operation was launched in order to clean-off militants that escaped across the country due to the army's earlier campaigns in FATA. The operation was aimed at consolidating efforts of previous military campaigns.

As a result of Radd-ul-Fasaad, TTP suffered huge losses and divided into various splinter groups that weakened its operational capabilities. According to Delhi-based South Asian Terrorism Portal (SATP), 2019 was the most peaceful year for Pakistan since the start of the insurgency in 2004. According to SATP, the number of suicide attacks in Pakistan in 2019 was decreased to 8 from a record high of 85 in 2009.

Pakistan Army under the command of General Bajwa started to fence the 2600 kilometer long Pakistan-Afghanistan border in 2017, and construct around 1,000 military forts in order to capitalize on gains that it had made against the militancy in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Around 67 wings of Frontier Corps were raised to patrol the bordering areas. Moreover, FATA under the 25th Amendment in 2018 was merged with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in order to bring it under the ambit of the Constitution of Pakistan so that it could be governed more effectively. The 25th Amendment replaced a colonial-era constitutional framework of Frontier Crime Regulation.

Since the fall of Kabul in August 2021, Pakistan is confronted with a renewed threat of terrorism as TTP has been injected with a fresh dose of strength due to the victory of Taliban in Afghanistan. The fresh recruits, easy access to US made weapons, and a sanctuary under the shadow of Afghan Taliban have once again bolstered the TTP to again target Pakistan. Resultantly, Pakistan suffered 13 suicide attacks by the end 2022.

In 2022, after negotiations, the TTP and the government announced a ceasefire in June. However, in November 2022, the TTP renounced the ceasefire and called for nationwide attacks against Pakistan.

On 7 April 2023, Pakistan's National Security Committee, under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, decided to launch a new military operation to root out militants posing threats to its western regions. The meeting was also attended by Pakistan's new military leadership COAS Asim Munir and CJCSC Sahir Shamshad Mirza. The Government of Pakistan approved a military operation codenamed "Azm-e-Istehkam" after more than a year on 22 June 2024.

Azm-e-Istehkam aims to eradicate extremism and terrorism in a comprehensive and decisive manner. The operation will not only include military action, but socio-economic uplift to deter extremism in line with National Action Plan.

The war has depleted the country's manpower resources, and the outcomes have outlined a deep effect on its national economy, since Pakistan had joined the American-led War on Terror. As of 2018, according to Ministry of Finance (MoF) statistics and mathematical data survey collections, the economy has suffered direct and indirect losses as high as $126.79 billion since 2001 because of Pakistan's role as a "frontline state". According to the MoF-issued Pakistan Economic Survey 2010–2011, "Pakistan has never witnessed such a devastating social and economic upheaval in its industry, even after dismemberment of the country by a direct war with India in 1971."