Abstract:
The war on terror, starting in October 2001, instead of stemming terrorism from the
region, has further radicalized the Pakhtun society. The prevailing terrorism in the shape
of Talibanization in the Pakhtun region of Pakistan has not been a result of the normal
functional social change; rather, it has been the product of a conscious policy of social
engineering in the Pakhtun society. The combination of culture reductionism and policy
of social engineering produce a distorted picture of the Pakhtuns’ culture. Analysis of the
history of religious mobilizations, nature of the current militant uprising, and the
phenomenon of violence in the Pakhtun culture demonstrates that the Taliban form of
terrorism, whose ideology transcends national boundaries, has no causal relationship with
the socially controlled and limited-in-scope violence in the Pakhtun society. State
institutions are weak to the point of non-existence mainly due to a limited government
writ, especially in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Therefore, there is a
strong reliance on social and cultural institutions. The destruction of, and indifference to
these social and cultural institutions by the counter-terrorism campaign and by the
Taliban activities has given further impetus to the problem of terrorism in the Pakhtun
society.