Pakistan has stepped up efforts to kill and capture ISKP leaders

At Western governments’ request, Pakistan has stepped up joint efforts to kill and capture ISKP leaders in the last year or so

The lawless borderlands between Pakistan and Afghanistan is now the stamping ground of the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), 

an offshoot of the group that established a “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014. 

America and other Western governments see ISKP as their biggest international terrorist threat. Partly because of this, many governments are quietly engaging with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Pakistan is now seeking American support for its efforts against groups, especially the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), active in its northern tribal areas, and separatist groups in the south-western province of Balochistan.

The Economist 21 August 2025

https://www.economist.com/asia/2025/08/21/pakistan-is-critical-in-the-fight-against-islamic-state-terrorism

At its height, Islamic State held about a third of Syria and 40 per cent of Iraq https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2024/03/ryssland-och-islamic-state-at-its.html

For decades, Pakistan’s military has been the country’s most vital institution

https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2024/03/for-decades-pakistans-military-has-been.html