Conflict in Pakistan
Despite the Taliban being pushed out of power in Afghanistan in late 2001, units of the hard-line Islamist militant group remain entrenched along the frontiers of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Instability in the Pakistani government diverted attention from the developing battle for control of the region. This Guide looks at the modern history of Pakistan, and provides resources for understanding the conflict.
The Indian subcontinent was partitioned in 1947 after the British pulled out with the intention of giving Muslims in the area their own homeland. The original Pakistan encompassed today’s Bangladesh, as well as the present-day Pakistan. The former, known as “East Pakistan,” seceded in 1971 with the help of India. Yet the borders did not clearly demarcate predominantly Muslim areas from Hindu ones, namely the disputed region of Kashmir. Wrangling over control of the country erupted into two of the three India-Pakistan Wars.
The BBC’s ‘Country Profile: Pakistan”
delineates major events in modern Pakistani history and how they tie in to the current conflict in the country, including lingering ethno-religious conflicts in the region. It also includes fast facts about Pakistan such as population and the national flag.
Encyclopedia Britannica
has a profile of Pakistan creator Mohammed Ali Jinnah, including his time with India’s Muslim League, his negotiations with Indian leader Mohandas K. Gandhi to create a state for Muslims on the Indian subcontinent, and eventual founding of the secular state of Pakistan.
The Council on Foreign Relations
has an article from the Center for Contemporary Conflict on the decades-long conflict between India and Pakistan, and how it took precedence over the oft-tenuous relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan in international foreign policy. After the end of the Cold War, the relative lack of attention on security concerns in that border region provided a fertile ground for instability, the paper argues.
In October 1999, General Pervez Musharraf took over the Pakistani government in a military coup, ... read more »
In mid-February 2009, in a bid to quell violence between the government and the Taliban, Pakistan ... read more »
Most Recent Guides
Expand All Guide Sections
