Terrorism: AFPAK's Pressing Trend
Terrorism in the Af/Pak Region: A Most Pressing Trend
Produced by:
Ethan Gordon – Team Leader Af/Pak Region
Nathan Sukhdeo – Team Member Af/Pak Region
With the focus in global terrorism being in the Gulf States following the rise of ISIS, it is easy to overlook that the Afghanistan-Pakistan region has been arguably the deadliest place in the world for the last decade. Af-Pak makes up two of the five countries that account for 82% of all Terrorist attacks in 2013, and ranked second and third globally in the global terrorism index, which measures the impact of terrorist attacks worldwide through quantifying lives lost, injuries and property damage. With the scale from one to ten, Afghanistan scored a 9.39 and Pakistan scored 9.37, joining Iraq as the only three countries with a score higher than 9.
As well, of the 20 deadliest terrorist attacks in 2013, seven occurred in the Af-Pak region, accounting for over 500 deaths in just those seven attacks. A final shocking statistic is that the Af-Pak region constituted 30.4% of all terrorist attacks in 2013, with every other country other than Iraq making up for 35%. What may be most sobering for analysts in the region hoping for peace is that with NATO pulling out of Afghanistan and Islamic fighters rampant in many regions of Pakistan, these numbers may get worse, but by analyzing where and against whom these attacks are taking place, these countries in turmoil could hope to address some of these crucial issues.
After the most recent suicide bombing in Afghanistan this week, it is becoming clear that the Taliban is targeting certain regions over others based on the amount of people they want to affect. The most recent attack was in the Helmand Province this week, with a resulting casualty toll of 7 dead and 23 injured. The degree to which this attack has affected the region spans past solely the numbers. The majority of those injured were children, which instills a culture of fear amongst parents and families in the region. Consequentially, the Taliban has started to shift their targets away from military and political forces, and more towards civilians. Such a shift in the demographic focus of attacks may translate in the near future to escalate crimes against humanity, and potential UN intervention despite NATO withdrawing combat forces.
