Khurram Shahzad Siddiqui
Introduction
The modern terrorist landscape is defined by terrorist groups, especially Al Qaeda and Islamic State (ISIS) affiliates, like Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), which are at the core of alliance networks. These terrorist organizations can accumulate and share the benefits of such alliances with their allies, enhancing their ‘lethality, longevity, and resilience’. This makes alliances with a core group at the center of the network more significant than others.Footnote1 It is particularly true about ISIS affiliates. After the loss of its territory, which began in 2015 owing to military operations in Iraq and Syria, the ISIS core primarily relied upon lethal attacks by its affiliates abroad targeting civilians and aimed to exploit ethnic/sectarian conflicts and social or political divisions.Footnote2 James A. Piazza & Michael J. Soules concluded, ‘as ISIS lost its caliphate, it internationalized its profile’.Footnote3 One of the lethal affiliates of ISIS, namely ISKP, exists in the Af-Pak (Afghanistan-Pakistan) region. Colin P. Clarke asserts that as the core of ISIS weakened, the affiliate organizations [like ISKP] could operate more independently and with greater lethality.Footnote4 A contemporary lethal alliance hub of ISKPFootnote5 exists in Balochistan province, which can be safely termed as a focal point in the South Asian terrorist landscape because it directly targets and has severe consequences for the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), worth around $62 billion, the flagship project of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).Footnote6
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