Pakistan’s Ideological Slide into Jihad: Consequences and Prospects

The Pakistan Army, with the consent of the political leadership, invoked the tribesmen and the retired and serving army officers in the name of jihad, to raid and seize Kashmir. [...] 1971: DISMEMBERMENT OF PAKISTAN In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Pakistan witnessed the rising image of the military in the eyes of the people. [...] THE AFGHAN WAR IN THE 1980s Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Pakistan became the frontline for the United States in the fight against Communism. [...] The state leadership was selective in suppressing these organisations and the target groups were the ones whose objectives fell out of sync with the military’s perception of national interests: those engaged in the jihadi violence within the state rather than in support of the military’s external ambitions vis-à-vis India and Afghanistan.45 The second set of terrorist groups includes the organisat. [...] The third group of the extremist elements comprises the Taliban, who were forced to leave Kabul after the initial success of Operation Enduring Freedom.47 The Taliban, after their defeat by the Northern Alliance, reverted to their villages in the southern and eastern Afghan provinces, as well as along the border areas on the western side of the Durand Line separating Afghanistan from Pakistan.48 A.