Pakistan has topped the Global Terrorism Index 2026 for the first time, even as Field Marshal Asim Munir's army commands international headlines for mediating the US-Iran peace talks in Islamabad. A detailed analysis published in the EurAsian Times by editor Nitin J. Ticku argues that the Pakistani military's global posturing stands in sharp contrast to its inability to contain an escalating wave of terror attacks within its own borders.

Pakistan Tops Global Terrorism Index 2026

According to the Global Terrorism Index 2026, Pakistan has, for the first time, claimed the unwanted distinction of being the country most affected by terrorism worldwide. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan together accounted for a staggering 74 per cent of all attacks and 67 per cent of fatalities. The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) have, according to the report, grown 'more sophisticated, and more lethal' over this period.

Attacks That Defined the Crisis

Since the outbreak of the US-Iran conflict in late February 2026, terror incidents inside Pakistan have not only persisted but intensified, particularly along the Afghanistan border. Earlier this year, the BLA launched one of its most coordinated offensives in years, striking across at least nine districts — including the capital Quetta and the port city of Gwadar — targeting police stations, banks, markets, and security installations, killing dozens of civilians and soldiers.

In February, a major suicide bombing struck a Shia mosque in Islamabad, killing at least 31 worshippers. The attack, one of the deadliest in the capital in recent years, was widely attributed to ISIS-Khorasan. In April, a car bombing at a police post in Fateh Khel killed over 20 officers. In a rare development, Baloch insurgents also ambushed a Coast Guard patrol near Gwadar, killing three officials — described as the first recorded incident of the BLA attacking a Pakistani maritime vessel.

May 2026: A Month of Relentless Violence

The violence showed no signs of abating through May 2026. On 7 May, mortar shells struck a market in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing six people, including two children. On 10 May, militants detonated a car bomb at a checkpoint in the same province and opened fire on police, killing at least 15 and wounding three. Gunmen reportedly stormed the police checkpost immediately after the blast.

On 12 May, a suicide bomber using a three-wheel vehicle laden with explosives killed at least nine people and wounded 34 others in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. On 14 May, clashes in Balochistan left at least five soldiers and seven militants dead. The following day, 15 May, militants attacked a security compound in northwest Pakistan with an explosives-laden truck and gunfire, killing at least nine paramilitary officers.

The Contradiction at the Heart of Pakistan's Strategy

Ticku's analysis draws a pointed contrast: while Asim Munir's forces were dispatching fighter jets and troops to Riyadh and positioning Pakistan as a regional peace broker, militant groups the military once reportedly nurtured were, according to the report, 'shockingly' gaining ground at home. The piece argues that Pakistan's cantonments and border regions remain vulnerable despite the army's internationally projected strength.

This comes amid a broader strategic debate about whether Pakistan's foreign-policy ambitions are outpacing its internal security capacity — a tension that analysts say is unlikely to resolve quickly given the structural entrenchment of groups like the TTP and BLA.