ABSTRACT
Pakistan has an uneven history of dealing with insurgencies and extremism. This chapter describes the various campaigns and policies employed to defeat anti-state militants and deal with violent extremist organizations. It identifies these groups and how Pakistan’s military and civilian leadership, relying on the related strategies of selectivity, gradualism and containment, have over time allowed militancy and terrorism to thrive. The chapter finds that while substantial progress has occurred in recent years in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism in Pakistan’s tribal areas, the country’s elites and the public have been slower in appreciating and acting against the existential internal threat that militant extremist organizations pose to the country.
