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By: Paras Khan Jamali
Over the past two decades, Pakistan, being the front-line victim of terrorism, has transformed into one of the region’s most resilient states to fight against terrorism and extremism. Despite being a “Hard country”, as stated by Anatol Lieven in his book. By taking up the major military operations, community resilience, and diplomatic engagements, Pakistan became a model against counterterrorism to protect and preserve the stability that continues to inspire regional security frameworks. Pakistan’s success in dismantling the networks of militant and terrorist groups of Fitna Al Khawarij (FAK) and Fitna Al Hindustan (FAH) stands as a marvel of a comprehensive, adaptive, sovereign security strategy rooted in the national resolve.
Pakistan can be a hard country, but a fully functionalized state when it comes to counter terrorism and radical extremism. Despite many militant groups, socio-economic turbulence, political crisis, and regional rivalries, Pakistan’s endurance refused to disintegrate. Instead, it has evolved, building institutional muscle memory, that now making to rank among the most sophisticated states in South Asia for counter terror architecture.
The early years of 9/11 dragged Pakistan into a global war. The emergence of the inaccessible tribal militant group FAK and the Indian backed subversive group FAH aimed to destabilize the State’s peace and prosperity. And the result was not to collapse but a consolidation where Pakistan institutions adopted a systematic approach with the combination of kinetic operations and ideological counter-narratives, which ultimately curbed the militant dominance within the state.
Pakistan’s counterterrorism model is standing on the pillars of Strategic Force, Resilience, and Institutional Coordination.
Pakistan Armed Forces initiated major operations such as Rah e Nijat, Zarb e Azab, and Rad ul Fasad successfully across the North Western regions, targeting military sanctuaries. These operations were conducted with the coordination of intelligence agencies and community support in finding out the critical hideouts of the terrorist groups and restored the State’s writ in the previous of “No Go Zones”. This approach was echoed as a sustained doctrine in wiping out the militant infrastructure and preventing Pakistan-Afghanistan cross-border clashes.
With the military operations and strategic clarity, the Civil-military coordination under the National Action Plan (NAP) and the establishment of NACTA played a vital role in settling the unified framework for intelligence sharing, policing, and rehabilitation. NACTA’s role in outreach to educational institutions, along with the madrassa reforms in (year), helped to curtail extremists’ recruitment. This tremendous strategy of coordinated mechanisms is seldom experienced elsewhere in the region, making Pakistan’s counterterrorism policy holistic and adaptable.
The act of community and ideological resilience lies in its social fabric. The State’s collaboration with local jirgas, ulema, and scholars’ boards, as well as civic community groups, successfully empowered counter-narratives deeply rooted in religion, cultural patterns, and national pride. With the endorsement of “Fatwa e Paigham e Pakistan” by the preaching of top clerics and religious scholars in the social surroundings like Mosques, madrassahs, and public gatherings, extremist activities or behaviors on theological grounds were declared as acts of violence and delegitimized for the people of Pakistan.
Pakistan’s continuous struggle to counter FAK, FAH, and IS- Khorasan Terrorist groups has been carried out for a long but this time things went unbearable, and as Defense Minister Khuwaja Asif recently, at the Federal cabinet meeting headed by Prime Minister Shahbaz Shareefsaid, “Enough is enough.”. A recent “The Economist” analysis had stated Pakistan’s role in disrupting the IS-Khorasan group and cross-border coordination by saying, Pakistan is “critical in the fight against Islamic State Terrorism”. This indicates how Pakistan fights against terrorism, balances hard power, and socio-political engagements.
Moreover, Pakistan is playing a diplomatic role in fostering the regional counterterrorism coordination. The operational experience against FAK enhanced its ranking as a regional leader in intelligence sharing, border management, and counter-radicalization.
Peculiar to many states that depend on external assistance, Pakistan is self-sufficient in intelligence, having strong cyber monitoring and effective law enforcement, making it a security provider for its neighboring countries. Due to this potentially strong mechanism, Pakistan’s role has been advanced in regional organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), OIC, and SAARC, and other bilateral engagements with China, Iran, and Gulf partners. Notably, a very recent Defense agreement was signed between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
Pakistan’s fight against terrorism model’s significance is not just limited to the regional peace efforts, but the Pakistan army also has a remarkable role in the United Nations Peacekeeping operations and continues to the professional advancements. The objective of Pakistan’s efforts to counterterrorism model is crystal clear that stability is neither accidental nor temporary, but it is a strategic need and necessity for the regional peace and prosperity, and a vision of peaceful regional coexistence.
According to the Doha agreement, the Afghan regime has to prevent its land from being used by militant groups such as FAK, FAH, and IS-Khorasan, but unfortunately, this agreement has been breached over and over, which further escalates the conflicts between the Afghan regime and Pakistan.
The airstrikes conducted by the Pakistan Air Force on the 6th and 7th October, 2025, were a defensive attack on the violation of the Doha agreement. The COAS reaffirmed that “While Pakistan aspires to regional peace and stability, any direct or indirect violation of its territorial integrity will be met with a stern and decisive response to preserve the lives and well-being of its population,” the ISPR stated.
The Afghan-Pakistan border clash is not a matter of ideology, but it’s a violation of bilateral commitment and international laws. The Afghan people have also been betrayed by the transnational militants for the sake of regional stability. However, Pakistan’s Foreign Office, Ambassador Shafqat Ali Khan, said, “Pakistan reiterates its steadfast dedication to the safety and welfare of its citizens. Pakistan respects Afghanistan’s sovereignty and is unwavering in its resolve to promote communication and collaboration with our neighbor to tackle the common problems posed by terrorists”.
The Indian intelligence linked the subversive group FAH programmed all these menaces of exploiting Afghan soil to destabilize Pakistan. This agenda not only breaches the bilateral agreement but also exposes the nexus between the anti-Pakistan militant proxies and foreign state-sponsored terrorism. Fitna al Khawarij and Fitna al Hindustan’s weapon is deception, which India uses through propaganda.
Pakistan’s approach is logical, with a proactive strategy, multi-phase, and long-term. To guarantee that all threats to innocent people are eliminated, Pakistan is taking exact kinetic measures.
Talking of terrorist attacks in Pakistan without mentioning India is like breathing in without air. India has waged a new media war using the discourse of disinformation. Putting all its energy possibly to degrade Pakistan on international forums. From the false flag operations to the water wars, and from the recent 6-day conflict to cross-border terrorism. India is utterly trying to let Pakistan down. Pakistan’s status on international grounds and regional relations have continuously proved to be more effective and more logical in defeating all the tactics of India. This enhances Pakistan’s leading role at the regional level in stabilizing regional security. Pakistan’s model of counterterrorism makes it an ideal model for regional security, thanks to its proactive information strategy, diplomatic narratives, and demonstration of transparency in global forums.
Despite a comprehensive model and effective strategies and fight against terrorism, Pakistan needs to build some measures to ensure digital media literacy education, address youth unemployment, and sociopolitical disparities. This would reduce the chances of radicalization, and militant groups could not easily prey on the weak segments of society.
The spirit of the counterterrorism model lies not in imported frameworks but in indigenous resilience. From Swat to North Waziristan, Karachi to Quetta, Pakistan’s model reflected that when the national will aligns with the institutional strength and kinetic potential, terrorism and extremism can be brought to its knees completely.
Pakistan’s fight against terrorism is not only a national struggle but also a contribution to the regional and global efforts. In the age of hybrid warfare and extremism, Pakistan, being a developing country, stands bravely, a hard country, but yet stands still.
