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Updated October 25, 2022
Terrorist and Other Militant Groups in Pakistan
U.S. officials have identified Pakistan as a base of
In 2018, the Paris-based intergovernmental Financial
operations and/or target for numerous armed, nonstate
Action Task Force (FATF) returned Pakistan to its “gray
militant groups, some of which have existed since the
list” of countries found to have “strategic deficiencies” in
1980s. Notable terrorist and other groups operating in
countering money laundering and terrorist financing
and/or launching attacks on Pakistan are of five broad, but
(FATF’s “black list” designates “high-risk and non-
not exclusive types: (1) globally oriented; (2) Afghanistan-
cooperative jurisdictions”). Observers saw successful
oriented; (3) India- and Kashmir-oriented; (4) domestically
completion of the FATF action plan as critical to Pakistan’s
oriented; and (5) sectarian (anti-Shia). Twelve of the 15
economic reform efforts and attractiveness to foreign
groups listed below are designated as Foreign Terrorist
investors, as well as for demonstrating sustained action
Organizations (FTOs) under U.S. law and most, but not all,
against all militant groups based in Pakistan. In mid-2021,
are animated by Islamist extremist ideology. Pakistan has
FATF reported that Pakistan had completed all but one of
suffered considerably from domestic terrorism since 2003,
34 recommended “action plan items.” In October 2022,
and related fatalities peaked in 2009 (see Figure 1). Many
FATF assessed that Pakistan had successfully addressed
observers predicted a resurgence of regional terrorism and
technical deficiencies and completed all action items, and it
militancy in the wake of the Afghan Taliban’s August 2021
removed the country from the “gray list.”
takeover. Since 2019, after five consecutive years of
declining fatality rates, the number of annual terrorism
Globally Oriented Militants
deaths in Pakistan is again on the rise, though remaining
Al Qaeda (AQ) “core” was established in 1988 in
well below 2007-2015 levels.
Afghanistan by Osama bin Laden and designated by the
United States as an FTO in 1999. U.S.-led forces expelled
Figure 1. Terrorism-Related Fatalities in Pakistan,
AQ from Afghanistan following the group’s commission of
2001-2022 (through October 20)
the September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.
AQ subsequently 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
well as in Afghanistan. Bin Laden was killed in a May 2011
raid by U.S. special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and
was succeeded by Ayman al-Zawahiri. In July 2022,
Zawahiri was killed in a U.S.-launched airstrike on Kabul,
Afghanistan; a successor has yet to be named. While AQ
currently lacks an operational capability in Afghanistan,
U.S. officials assess that the group intends to reconstitute its
ability to conduct external attacks from Afghan territory.
Source: South Asia Terrorism Portal (New Delhi).
Figure 2. Map of Pakistan
According to the U.S. State Department’s Country Reports
on Terrorism 2020 (released in December 2021), “Pakistan
took steps in 2020 to counter terror financing and to restrain
India-focused militant groups,” and its government “made
limited progress on the most difficult aspects of its 2015
National Action Plan to counter terrorism.... ” The report
notes the criminal conviction of several high-profile
terrorists, while conveying that Pakistan did not “take steps
under its domestic authorities to prosecute other terrorist
leaders residing in Pakistan.” It continues: “Although
Pakistan’s national action plan calls to ‘ensure that no
armed militias are allowed to function in the country,’
several UN- and U.S.-designated terrorist groups that focus
on attacks outside the country continued to operate from
Pakistani soil in 2020.... The government and military acted
inconsistently with respect to terrorist safe havens
throughout the country. Authorities did not take sufficient
Sources: CRS. Boundaries from U.S. Department of State and ESRI.
action to dismantle certain terrorist groups.”
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. After 1989 HUJI
now-deceased Indian national and former member of a
redirected its efforts toward India, although it did supply
Kashmiri terrorist group—and was designated as an FTO in
fighters to the Afghan Taliban, and it was designated as an
2016. With an estimated several hundred members, AQIS
FTO in 2010. With an unknown strength, HUJI 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-Mujahidin (HUM) was designated as an FTO
regional affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
in 1997 and operates mainly from Azad Kashmir and from
(ISIS, ISIL, or the Arabic acronym Da’esh) that made
some Pakistani cities. It was responsible for the 1999
inroads in Afghanistan in 2015 and was designated as an
hijacking of an Indian airliner that led to the release from an
FTO in 2016. Its estimated 1,500-4,000 fighters are mostly
Indian prison of JEM’s future founder; most HUM cadres
former members of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and the
subsequently defected to that group.
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan who are based in
Afghanistan but also operate in Pakistan, along with
Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) was formed in 1989—
disaffected Afghan Taliban fighters.
reportedly as the militant wing of Pakistan’s largest Islamist
political party—and designated as an FTO in 2017. It is one
Afghanistan-Oriented Militants
of the largest and oldest militant groups operating in Indian-
The Afghan Taliban emerged in southeastern Afghanistan
administered Kashmir. HM’s cadre of unknown size is
in the early 1990s, ruled most of that country from 1996-
composed primarily of ethnic Kashmiris who seek
2001, and were named as Specially Designated Global
independence for Kashmir or annexation of Indian-
Terrorists in 2002. Long led by Mullah Omar (who died in
administered Kashmir into Pakistan. Although Kashmir-
2013) and now led by Haibatullah Akhundzada, during the
based, HM reportedly has key funding sources in Pakistan.
period 2001 to 2021 its leadership was believed to operate
mainly from the Balochistan provincial capital of Quetta, as
Domestically Oriented Militants
well as in Karachi and Peshawar. It gained strength as U.S.
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was formed in 2007 and
force levels in Afghanistan decreased significantly after
designated as an FTO in 2010. It is composed largely of
2014, and retook power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
ethnic Pashtun militants who unified under the leadership of
now-deceased Baitullah Mehsud, then based in the former
The Haqqani Network (HQN) was founded in the late
South Waziristan FATA agency, with representatives from
1980s by Jalaluddin Haqqani and designated as an FTO in
each of Pakistan’s seven former tribal agencies. TTP
2012. Jalaluddin retreated to Pakistan after 2001 and his son
leadership reportedly fled into the border areas of eastern
Sirajuddin later became the group’s leader. Sirajuddin
Afghanistan in response to Pakistani military operations in
Haqqani also became a deputy chief of the Afghan Taliban
2014. Resurgent since 2021, led by Noor Wali Mehsud, and
in 2015 and Afghanistan’s acting interior minister in 2021.
with suspected links to Al Qaeda, the TTP’s estimated
HQN reportedly has several hundred core members and an
3,000-5,000 members seek to defeat Pakistan’s government
estimated 3,000-5,000 armed militants with varying degrees
and establish Sharia law in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
of affiliation, many of whom reportedly operate near the
Pakistan-Afghanistan border and have undertaken
Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which the State
numerous kidnappings and attacks in Afghanistan. Some
Department named as Specially Designated Global
U.S. officials have linked HQN to Pakistan’s main
Terrorists in 2019, is an ethnic-based separatist group of up
intelligence service, a charge Pakistan denies.
to 1,000 armed militants operating mainly in ethnic Baloch
areas of Pakistan.
India- and Kashmir-Oriented Militants
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) was formed in the late 1980s in
Jaysh al-Adl (aka Jundallah), designated as an FTO in
Pakistan and designated as an FTO in 2001. Led by now-
2010, is an ethnic Baloch separatist group operating in and
incarcerated Hafiz Saeed and based in both Pakistan’s
from Pakistan’s Balochistan province, oriented primarily
Punjab province and in Pakistan-administered (Azad)
toward Iran and its ethnic Baloch regions.
Kashmir, it is more recently fronted as the ostensibly
Sectarian (Anti-Shia) Militants
charitable Jamaat-ud-Dawa. LET was responsible for major
November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India, as well as
Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP, aka Ahle Sunnat Wal
numerous other high-profile attacks.
Jamaat) is an anti-Shia group established in Punjab in the
mid-1980s. Its 3,000-6,000 members operate mainly in the
Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) was founded in 2000 by
former FATA, Punjab, and Karachi.
Kashmiri militant leader Masood Azhar and was designated
as an FTO in 2001. Along with LET, it was responsible for
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LEJ) is an SSP offshoot designated as
a 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament, among numerous
an FTO in 2013. With membership in the low hundreds,
others. Based in both Punjab and in Azad Kashmir, JEM’s
LEJ operates mainly in the former FATA, Punjab,
several hundred armed supporters operate in India,
Balochistan, and Karachi, as well as in Afghanistan. It
Afghanistan, and Pakistan while seeking annexation of
reportedly has close ties with both Al Qaeda and the TTP.
Indian-administered Kashmir into Pakistan. JEM also has
openly declared war on the United States.
K. Alan Kronstadt, Specialist in South Asian Affairs
IF11934
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Terrorist and Other Militant Groups in Pakistan
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https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF11934 · VERSION 4 · UPDATED