The northwestern frontier of Pakistan has been the pivot between nation building and disturbance of regions. This is a region sharing the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) with the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), which has long been used to enduring the shockwaves of foreign invasions, ideological insurgencies, and proxy wars. It is not just an isolated boundary region, it is the political pivot that Pakistan can neither afford to lose its domestic harmony nor its international credibility.

The recent developments in the region with the withdrawal of the United States out of Afghanistan and the restoration of ungoverned spaces across the border only enhanced the regional complex dynamic in the security situation. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has been weakened over the years, due to state counteraction but has since reassembled in the Afghanistan safe havens and its assault of violence within the Pakistani borders has renewed. In 2024, there was a 17 percent increase in militant attacks in Pakistan and KP and surrounding tribal areas had to absorb a huge portion. The attacks have not been confined only to outposts in remote locations anymore, they are getting more and more frequent against civilian and military targets in areas that are settled and inhabited, which can mean that the strategy and even audacity has changed.

The ideological campaign that accompanies the activities of the TTP strengthens its operational capability. Terrorists have switched to the digital methods of messaging and now use apps such as Telegram, WhatsApp, and TikTok to spread propaganda messages written in regional languages. There has been a change of rhetoric in that jihadism has been changed to local concerns that are usually presented either as........

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