ABSTRACT
Aims of this book This book focuses on the formulation and the outcomes of Pakistani state strategies towards Islamist armed groups during a decade of intensifying war on its own territory. This war began for Pakistan in its north-western tribal territories where it first confronted Islamist militants at the behest of the US, which had invaded neighbouring Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and had demanded Pakistani cooperation to end Taliban rule there and to hunt for al-Qaeda members fleeing into Pakistan. In the decade that followed Pakistan would be drenched in terrorism and insurgency that severely undermined state sovereignty as swathes of the country fell under armed group control. In response, the Pakistani military would engage in the longest lasting campaign of its history, and from the middle of the decade, the US would engage in its own strategy of using unmanned aerial drones to bomb targets located in Pakistani territory.
