Terrorism's Persistence in the Newly Merged Districts (NMDs): An Examination of Inter-Group Militant Cooperation and Rivalries

Abstract

Following US withdrawal and Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, the militant landscape of Pakistan’s Newly Merged Districts (NMDs) has been in a constant flux. As it evolves, the old militant groups are reviving, while the new ones are also emerging. Three broad trends underpin the evolution of the NMDs’ militant landscape: decentralized organizational structures of terrorist groups have been replaced with centralized ones, divisions and splintering have given way to mergers and alliances, and globalized and regionalized militant narratives, barring the Islamic State of Khorasan, have been replaced with localized ones. Against this backdrop, this article has used the framework of inter-group terrorist cooperation and rivalries to unpack the persistence of terrorism in the NMDs. Consistent with the inter-group cooperation and rivalries of terrorist groups, the fraternal and antagonistic ties of terrorist groups in the NMDs are positively linked to terrorism’s persistence and endurance in the region.