Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is an insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northwest Pakistan. It involves the United States, United Kingdom, Pakistani military and Pakistani tribes against the Taliban, al-Qaeda and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The main reason for the conflict was tensions breaking out between Pakistan Armed Forces and al-Qaeda in 2004. 3117 Pakistani armed forces members have been killed, as well as 235+ tribe members and 15 United States soldiers. 17742 insurgents have been killed or captured.^[source?]

Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Part of The Global War on Terrorism and the spillover of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
Intelligence map: Navy intelligence maps shows the districts of the FATA in blue and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in green.
Date 16 March 2004 – present (20 years, 5 months, 2 weeks and 4 days) Location Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (including the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas), Pakistan Status Ongoing Low-level insurgency[1] Large number of insurgents killed while some fled to Afghanistan[2] Heavy insurgent losses and substantial reduction in insurgent activity[3][4] Tribal areas merged into Pakistan, tribal law abolished and writ of constitution established as of 2018[5] Reduction of drone strikes conducted by the United States in Pakistan Jundallah, Tehreek-e-Khilafat, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan join ISIL[6][7][8] Jamaat-ul-Ahrar rejoins the TTP[9]
Belligerents
Pakistan  United States (see drone strikes in Pakistan)	Taliban-aligned groups Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan al-Qaeda Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Lashkar-e-Islam Jundallah Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan Jamaat-ul-Ahrar[note 1] Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi Turkistan Islamic Party ISIL-aligned groups Khorasan Province Jundallah[6] Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan[8] Jamaat-ul-Ahrar[9]
Commanders and leaders
Pervez Musharraf Ashfaq Kayani Asif Ali Zardari Nawaz Sharif Mamnoon Hussain Arif Alvi Raheel Sharif Qamar Javed Bajwa Imran Khan Masood Aslam Tariq Khan Rao Qamar Suleman Tahir Rafique Butt Sanaullah Niazi †	Noor Wali Mehsud Maulana Fazlullah † Khan Said 'Sajna' † Adnan Rashid Mangal Bagh † Hakimullah Mehsud † Abdullah Mehsud † Baitullah Mehsud † Maulvi Nazir † Faqir Mohammed (POW)[10] Nek Muhammad Wazir † Abdul Rashid Ghazi † Sufi Muhammad  (POW)[11] al-Qaeda Ayman al-Zawahiri † Osama bin Laden † Ilyas Kashmiri † Mohammad Hasan Khalil al-Hakim † Atiyah Abd al-Rahman † Abu Laith al-Libi † Abu Yahya al-Libi † Abu-Zaid al Kuwaiti † Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam † Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan † Sheikh Fateh †[12] Adnan Gulshair el Shukrijumah †[13] ISIL Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi † Hafiz Saeed Khan †[14] Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost (2014–2015)[15][16] Usman Ghazi †[8][17] IMU Group Usman Ghazi † Tohir Yuldashev † Najmiddin Jalolov † Abu Usman Adil † Mirzazhanov Atoyevich (WIA)
Strength
Pakistan 200,000 Pakistani troops[18][19] Unknown no. of air squadrons of Navy and Pakistan Air Force fighter jets, including JF-17 and F-16 jets[20] ~10,000 Frontier Corps United States UAV drones CIA operatives U.S. Special Forces[21]	~25,000 TTP militia[22] ~2,000 Lashkar-e-Islam militia[23] ~1,000 TNSM militia[24] 300–3,000 al-Qaeda militants[25]  ISIL Jundallah: 12,000–20,000 (disputed)[6] IMU: 500[source?]–1,000[26]
Casualties and losses
Pakistan: 4,631 soldiers and LEAs killed (per SATP)[3][4] 8,214 killed soldiers and LEAs and 14,583 wounded (per the Watson Institute; by mid-2016)[27] United States: 15 soldiers killed (2010)[28]	29,398 militants killed (per SATP)[3][4] 31,000 killed (per the Watson Institute; by mid-2016)[27]
9,394 civilians and 1,946 unidentified killed (per SATP)[3][4] 22,100 civilians killed (per the Watson Institute; by mid-2016)[27] 45,369 killed overall (per SATP)[3][4] 61,549 killed overall (per the Watson Institute; by mid-2016)[27] 41,819 killed overall all over Pakistan (Uppsala Conflict Data Program; 1989–2019)[29] Over 3.44 million civilians displaced (2009)[30] Over 6 million civilians displaced (2003–2019)[31]

During 2004, S.A.S. soldiers were ordered to take out a renegade police officer. Two men were caught by the police and taken back to the station. Tempers had already been running high because of an arrest by soldiers who had turned out to be agents working in the Taliban.^[source?]

In 2023, the National Security Committee of Pakistan, under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, decided to launch a new military operation to eliminate militants who pose a threat to the western regions of Pakistan.^[32]

Related pages

• List of ongoing armed conflicts

References

1. Lieven, Anatol (2017). "Counter-Insurgency in Pakistan: The Role of Legitimacy". Small Wars & Insurgencies. 28: 166–190. doi:10.1080/09592318.2016.1266128. S2CID 151355749.
2. "US Drone Kills Afghan-Based Pakistani Taliban Commander". Voice of America (VOA). 4 July 2018.
3. "Database – KPK from 2005 to present". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
4. "Database – FATA from 2005 to present". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
5. "President signs 'Constitutional Amendment' to merge FATA with KP". nation.com.pk. 31 May 2018. Archived from the original on 31 May 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
6. "Pakistan Taliban splinter group vows allegiance to Islamic State". Reuters. 18 November 2014. Archived from the original on 19 November 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
7. "ISIS Now Has Military Allies in 11 Countries – NYMag". Daily Intelligencer. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
8. Says, Battu (31 March 2015). "Uzbek militants in Afghanistan pledge allegiance to ISIS in beheading video". The Khaama Press News Agency. Archived from the original on 13 July 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
9. Mehsud, Katharine Houreld (12 March 2015). "Pakistani splinter group rejoins Taliban amid fears of isolation | Reuters". Reuters. Archived from the original on 19 August 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
10. "Former Pakistani Taliban No 2 arrested in Afghanistan: Reports". Archived from the original on 19 February 2013.
11. "Taliban leader killed in firefight with police". Express Tribune. 26 August 2010. Archived from the original on 30 October 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
12. "US missile strike 'kills al-Qaeda chief' in Pakistan". BBC News. 28 September 2010. Archived from the original on 23 December 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
13. Sophia Saifi, Ben Brumfield and Susan Candiotti (6 December 2014). "Pakistan kills al Qaeda leader on FBI most wanted list". CNN. Archived from the original on 26 July 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
14. Arif Rafiq. "What Happened to ISIS's Afghanistan-Pakistan Province?". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 3 February 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
15. "Released Gitmo detainee joins ISISNov. 19, 2014 – 2:30 – Former Taliban commander named chief of ISIS in Khorasa". fox news. Archived from the original on 28 January 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
16. "Local support for dreaded Islamic State growing in Pakistan: Report". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 17 November 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
17. "IMU announces death of emir, names new leader". The Long War Journal. 4 August 2014. Archived from the original on 4 June 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
18. Khalid, M Saeed (10 September 2017). "The on-off partnership". The News International. Archived from the original on 19 September 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
19. Barnes, Julian E. (23 January 2010). "Pentagon chief defends arms sales to India, Pakistan". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 26 January 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
20. "Pakistan, Saudi Arabia Cleared for U.S. Arms Buys". Armscontrol.org. 11 September 2001. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
21. "American Dead in Pakistan Bombing Were Special Forces – ABC News". USA: ABC. 3 February 2010. Archived from the original on 25 January 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
22. Bennett-Jones, Owen (25 April 2014). "Pakistan army eyes Taliban talks with unease". BBC News. Archived from the original on 4 July 2014. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
23. "A Profile of Mangal Bagh" (PDF). TheLongWarJournal. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
24. "Pak Taliban claims to be using Afghan soil". Rediff News. 26 June 2012. Archived from the original on 24 February 2013. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
25. "Al-Qaeda map: Isis, Boko Haram and other affiliates' strongholds across Africa and Asia". 12 June 2014. Archived from the original on 29 August 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
26. Terrorist Organizations Reference Guide
27. Crawford, Neta C. "Update on the Human Costs of War for Afghanistan and Pakistan, 2001 to mid-2016" (PDF). Brown University. Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2017. The war in Pakistan, which began as Al Qaeda and the Taliban fled from Afghanistan into the northwest region of Pakistan in 2001, has caused almost 62,000 deaths and an additional 67,000 injuries.
28. "U.S. Fatalities in and around Afghanistan". iCasualties. 9 September 2005. Archived from the original on 6 April 2010. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
29. "Database – Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP)". Retrieved 23 May 2019.
30. "Red Cross 'gravely concerned' about conditions in Swat Valley". CNN. 31 May 2009. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2011. Pakistan's Swat Valley, where a month long offensive against the Taliban has displaced more than 2 million civilians.
31. "In source: "A majority of the more than 70,000-plus civilians killed in this violence were Pashtuns, while more than 6 million members of the ethnic group have endured displacement since the onset of conflict in 2003."". Gandhara. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
32. "Pakistan to launch fresh operation against militants amid political and economic chaos". arabnews.pk. Retrieved 3 June 2024.

1. Until 2020, when it re-merged into the TTP.^[9]