The Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, also known as the War in North-West Pakistan, or the Jihadist insurgency in North-West Pakistan, is an ongoing armed conflict involving Pakistan and Islamist militant groups such as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Jundallah, Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI), the Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), al-Qaeda, and their Central Asian allies such as the Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISKP), Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, East Turkistan Movement, Emirate of Caucasus, and elements of organized crime. Formerly a war, the conflict has now transformed into an insurgency.
The armed conflict began in 2004 when tensions rooted in the Pakistan Army's search for al-Qaeda fighters in its mountainous Waziristan region escalated into large-scale armed resistance. Pakistan's actions were presented as its contribution to the U.S. war on terror. The al-Qaeda terrorists fled Afghanistan seek refuge in the bordering Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Pakistan had already joined US-led war on terror after the 9/11 attacks under Pervez Musharraf. However, after the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters ventured across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to seek refuge in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). As a result, militants established a presence in several border districts in FATA. The insurgency turned into a critical issue for Pakistan when the Pakistan Army besieged Lal Masjid in Islamabad. The operation resulted in the TTP describing Pakistan as a "puppet of Western powers," amplifying its propaganda initiative and kickstarting its campaign of suicide bombings throughout the country.
