Own goal? Pakistan admits political-criminal-terror nexus on its soil; report flags rising violence

Pakistan’s Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry on Tuesday said that nearly 71% of terrorist incidents reported in 2025 originated from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). He attributed this concentration to a “politically conducive environment and the flourishing political-criminal-terror-nexus which is flourishing there”.

Data released by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) reinforces the scale of the surge. KP recorded the sharpest rise in violence, with “fatalities rose from 1,620 in 2024 to 2,331 in 2025” — a year-on-year increase of more than 40%.




The broader national picture is even starker. According to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), 2025 was the “deadliest” year in a decade, with 3,387 combat-related deaths. These included 2,115 terrorists, 664 security personnel, 580 civilians and 28 members of pro-government peace committees. PICSS said violence intensified in both “tempo and lethality”, pushing multiple security indicators to their highest levels in years.

“Militant attacks climbed to their highest annual total since 2014, and the use of suicide bombings and small drones showed a clear upward trend,” the report said. Suicide attacks rose by 53%, while terrorist incidents overall increased to 1,063 — the highest since 2014.

Security forces and civilians also bore rising costs. Security personnel fatalities rose 26% to their highest level since 2011, while civilian deaths increased by 24%, marking the worst toll in a decade. Injuries surged by 53% to 2,263, with sharp rises across all categories.

The violence has been most acute in KP and Balochistan. In Bannu alone, Deputy Inspector General Sajjad Khan said 27 police personnel were killed in 134 attacks during 2025. Police carried out 168 intelligence-based operations, arresting 105 militants and killing 65, he said.

Pakistan frequently accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities of sheltering the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant group blamed for a sharp increase in attacks inside Pakistan since 2021. Afghan officials reject the allegations, insisting they do not permit their territory to be used for attacks against other countries.

While the TTP operates independently from Afghanistan’s Taliban, the two groups maintain close ties.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have deteriorated since October, when border clashes followed explosions in Kabul on Oct. 9 that Afghan officials attributed to Pakistan. Although Qatar later helped mediate a ceasefire, talks hosted by Turkey in November failed to produce a lasting agreement.