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September 23, 2021
Terrorist and Other Militant Groups in Pakistan
U.S. officials have identified Pakistan as a base of
throughout the country. Authorities did not take sufficient
operations and/or target for numerous armed, nonstate
action to stop certain terrorist groups and individuals from
militant groups, some of which have existed since the
openly operating in the country.”
1980s. Notable terrorist and other groups operating in
and/or launching attacks on Pakistan are of five broad, but
In 2018, the Paris-based intergovernmental Financial
not exclusive types: (1) globally-oriented; (2) Afghanistan-
Action Task Force (FATF) returned Pakistan to its “gray
oriented; (3) India- and Kashmir-oriented; (4) domestically-
list” of countries found to have “strategic deficiencies” in
oriented; and 5) sectarian (anti-Shia). Twelve of the fifteen
countering money laundering and terrorist financing, where
groups listed below are designated as Foreign Terrorist
it had been from 2012 to 2015. In 2020, a senior State
Organizations (FTOs) under U.S. law and most, but not all,
Department official s aid, “Completion of the FATF action
are animated by Islamist extremist ideology. Pakistan has
plan is critical to Pakistan’s economic reform efforts … as
suffered considerably from domestic terrorism since 2003,
well as for demonstrating sustained and irreversible action
and related fatalities peaked in 2009 (see Figure 1). Many
against all militant groups based in Pakistan without
observers predict a resurgence of regional terrorism and
distinction.… [I]f Pakistan were not to meet FATF
militancy in the wake of the Afghan Taliban’s August 2021
obligations or were to fail and be blacklisted, that would be
successes.
devastating for Pakistan’s economic reform program and
for its ability to attract investors.” FATF’s “black list”
Figure 1. Terrorism-Related Fatalities in Pakistan,
designates “high-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions.” In
2000-2020
mid-2021, FATF assessed that Pakistan had completed 26
of 27 recommended “action plan items” and left the
country’s “gray list” status unchanged.
Globally-Oriented Militants
Al Qaeda (AQ) “core” was established by Osama bin
Laden in 1988 in Afghanistan and was designated by the
United States as an FTO in 1999. U.S.-led forces expelled
AQ from Afghanistan following the group’s commission of
the September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.
Since then, AQ has operated primarily from the former
Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA, now
incorporated into Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
province; see Figure 2) and in the megacity of Karachi, as
Source: South Asia Terrorism Portal (New Delhi)
well as in Afghanistan. It has since 2011 been led by
Ayman al-Zawahiri and reportedly maintains supportive
ties with many of the groups listed below.
According to the U.S. State Department’s Country Reports
on Terrorism 2019 (released in June 2020), Pakistan has
Figure 2. Map of Pakistan
“continued to serve as a safe haven for certain regionally
focused terrorist groups,” and has “allowed groups targeting
Afghanistan ... as well as groups targeting India ... to
operate from its territory” [emphasis added]. The
Department noted “modest steps” taken by Pakistan’s
government to counter terrorism financing and to “restrain”
some India-focused militant groups following an early 2019
terrorist attack in Indian-administered Kashmir. It assessed,
however, that “Islamabad has yet to take decisive actions
against India- and Afghanistan-focused militants,” and that
“progress on the most difficult aspects of its 2015 National
Action Plan to counter terrorism remains unfulfilled—
specifically its pledge to dismantle all terrorist
organizations without delay and discrimination.” On the
topic of “terrorist safe havens,” the Department concluded
that Pakistan’s government and military “acted
inconsistently with respect to terrorist safe havens
Source: CRS. Boundaries from U.S. Department of State and ESRI.
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Terrorist and Other Militant Groups in Pakistan
Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) was
Harakat-ul Jihad Islami (HUJI) was formed in 1980 in
established in 2014 under the leadership of Asim Umar—a
Afghanistan to fight the Soviet army and was designated as
now-deceased Indian national and former member of a
an FTO in 2010. After 1989 it redirected its efforts toward
Kashmiri terrorist group—and was designated as an FTO in
India, although it did supply fighters to the Afghan Taliban.
2016. With an estimated several hundred members, AQIS
With an unknown strength, HUJI today operates in
has been implicated in terrorist attacks in Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India, and seeks
including a 2014 attempt to hijack a Pakistan Navy frigate.
annexation of Indian-administered Kashmir into Pakistan.
Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP or IS-K) is a
Harakat ul-Mujahadeen (HUM) was designated as an
regional affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
FTO in 1997 and operates mainly from Azad Kashmir and
(ISIS, ISIL, or the Arabic acronym Da’esh) that made
from some Pakistani cities. It was responsible for the 1999
inroads in Afghanistan in 2015 and was designated as an
hijacking of an Indian airliner, leading to the release from
FTO in 2016. Its estimated 1,500-2,200 fighters are mostly
an Indian prison of JEM’s future founder; most HUM
former members of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan who are
cadres subsequently defected to that group.
based in Afghanistan but also operate in Pakistan, along
with disaffected Afghan Taliban fighters.
Hizb-ul Mujahideen (HM) was formed in 1989—
reportedly as the militant wing of Pakistan’s largest Islamist
Afghanistan-Oriented Militants
political party—and designated as an FTO in 2017. It is one
The Afghan Taliban emerged in southeastern Afghanistan
of the largest and oldest militant groups operating in Indian-
in the early 1990s, ruled most of that country from 1996-
administered Kashmir. HM’s cadre of unknown size is
2001, and were named as Specially Designated Global
composed primarily of ethnic Kashmiris who seek
Terrorists in 2002. Long led by Mullah Omar (who died in
independence for Kashmir or annexation of Indian-
2013) and now led by Haybatullah Akhundzada, during the
administered Kashmir into Pakistan. Although Kashmir-
period 2001 to 2021 its leadership was believed to operate
based, HM reportedly has key funding sources in Pakistan.
mainly from the Balochistan provincial capital of Quetta, as
well as in Karachi and Peshawar. It gained strength as U.S.
Domestically-Oriented Militants
force levels in Afghanistan decreased significantly after
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was formed in 2007 and
2014, and retook power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
designated as an FTO in 2010. It is composed largely of
ethnic Pashtun militants who unified under the leadership of
The Haqqani Network (HQN) was founded in the late
now-deceased Baitullah Mehsud, then based in the former
1980s by Jalaluddin Haqqani and designated as an FTO in
South Waziristan FATA agency, with representatives from
2012. Jalaluddin retreated to Pakistan after 2001 and his son
each of Pakistan’s seven former tribal agencies. TTP
Sirajuddin later became the group’s leader, also becoming a
leadership reportedly fled into the border areas of eastern
deputy chief of the Afghan Taliban in 2015 and
Afghanistan in response to Pakistani military operations in
Afghanistan’s acting interior minister in 2021. HQN
2014. Today led by Noor Wali Mehsud, and with suspected
reportedly has several hundred core members and an
links to Al Qaeda, the TTP’s estimated 3,000-6,000
estimated 3,000-5,000 armed militants with varying degrees
members seek to defeat Pakistan’s government and
of affiliation, many of whom reportedly operate near the
establish Sharia law in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Pakistan-Afghanistan border and have undertaken
numerous kidnappings and attacks in Afghanistan. Some
Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which the State
U.S. officials have linked HQN to Pakistan’s main
Department named as Specially Designated Global
intelligence service, a charge Pakistan denies.
Terrorists in 2019, is an ethnic-based separatist group of up
to 1,000 armed militants operating mainly in ethnic Baloch
India- and Kashmir-Oriented Militants
areas of Pakistan.
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) was formed in the late 1980s in
Pakistan and designated as an FTO in 2001. Led by Hafiz
Jundallah (aka Jaysh al-Adl), designated as an FTO in
Saeed and based in both Pakistan’s Punjab province and in
2010, is an ethnic Baloch separatist group operating in
Pakistan-administered (Azad) Kashmir, it is more recently
Pakistan’s Balochistan province. It is oriented primarily
fronted by the ostensibly charitable Jamaat-ud-Dawa. LET
toward Iran and its ethnic Baloch regions.
was responsible for major 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India,
as well as numerous other high-profile attacks.
Sectarian (Anti-Shia) Militants
Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), an anti-Shia group
Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) was founded in 2000 by
established in Punjab in the mid-1980s, is now known as
Kashmiri militant leader Masood Azhar and was designated
Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat. Its 3,000-6,000 members operate
as an FTO in 2001. Along with LET, it was responsible for
mainly in the former FATA, Punjab, Balochistan, and
a 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament, among numerous
Karachi.
others. Based in both Punjab and in Azad Kashmir, JEM’s
several hundred armed supporters operate in India,
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LEJ) is an SSP offshoot designated as
Afghanistan, and Pakistan while seeking annexation of
an FTO in 2013. With membership in the low hundreds,
Indian-administered Kashmir into Pakistan. JEM also has
LEJ operates mainly in the former FATA, Punjab,
openly declared war on the United States.
Balochistan, and Karachi, as well as in Afghanistan. It
reportedly has close ties with both Al Qaeda and the TTP.
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Terrorist and Other Militant Groups in Pakistan
IF11934
K. Alan Kronstadt, Specialist in South Asian Affairs
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https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF11934 · VERSION 1 · NEW