Terrorism and Religious Extremism in Pakistan and Afghanistan

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In 1947 Pakistan was created after being partitioned from the country of India. A predominantly Muslim country located in Southern Asia it has had a history rife with terrorism and religious extremism. The roots of which can be traced primarily to the Soviet-Afghan war of 1979. A direct consequence of the war would be the promotion of radical Islam and a militant culture. The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 and the subsequent War On Terror would bring Pakistani support of and involvement in terrorist activities to international focus.

Neighboring Iran and Afghanistan to the west, China to the north, and India to the East Pakistan has a diverse geography consisting of flat plains and mountainous regions. The country is divided into four Provinces: Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan. Located in the northwest between Afghanistan and the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan are the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The FATA is home to a number of various tribes of ethnic Afghans known as Pashtun(Weightman 2011).

Punjab, Persian for Five Waters, is Pakistan’s most populated Province and home to the Punjabi people. The term Five Waters comes from the five bodies of water that flow through the region and originated from the Indus River. Punjabi is the primary language in the Punjab Province and also the most spoken language in Pakistan. This province is located in the northeastern region of Pakistan and boarders India. Punjab’s capital city of Lahore is one of Pakistan’s wealthiest cities and is known as the cultural heart of the country(Weightman 2011).

The Province of Sindh is Pakistan’s southern most province and neighbors India, and the Arabian Sea. It is home to th...

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...gious extremists know that and will play it to their advantage. Once in the school they are able to mold the young mans impressionable mind to support their ideology and further their agenda. They are more or less a circumstance of their environment, one that is the creation of corruption and tyranny.

Works Cited

1. Reidel, Bruce. (2008) Pakistan and Terror: The Eye of the Storm

http://www.lexisnexis.com.lib-proxy.fullerton.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/?verb=sr&csi=165641&sr=AUTHOR(Riedel)+AND+TITLE(Pakistan%20and%20Terror%20:%20The%20Eye%20of%20the%20Storm)+AND+DATE+IS+2008

2. Hilali, A.Z. (2002) The Cost and Benefits of the Afghan War for Pakistan. Contemporary South Asia

http://www.khyber.org/publications/pdf/afghanwarcosts.pdf

3. Weightman, Barbara. (2011) Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia. John Wiley and Sons, Inc

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