Pakistan, Terror, And Troubled Borders: A Closer Look – OpEd

Alright, when most folks think about Pakistan and its fight against terrorism, that one big event – Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad – usually comes to mind, right? And no doubt, that moment put Pakistan under a huge global microscope. But here’s the thing: if that’s all we focus on, we’re missing a much bigger, more tangled story of how Pakistan has been dealing with terrorism for two decades. It’s a story with tough choices, heartbreaking losses for so many people, and a country really trying to figure things out and change.

So, after Abbottabad, Pakistan did something pretty notable: they set up their own commission to really get to the bottom of what happened. When that commission put out its report, it didn’t pull any punches, calling it a “collective failure” within their system. Now, for any country to look at itself that hard, especially when it comes to national security, takes some guts. It felt like Pakistan was saying, “Okay, we messed up, and we need to fix things,” and they tried to frame it as taking responsibility.

Then came the big questions: Was this just a massive mistake, or was Pakistan actually in on it, helping hide bin Laden? Well, the official Abbottabad Commission looked into it and said they didn’t find any solid proof that the Pakistani government or its main agencies were deliberately involved. What they found sounded more like weak systems, different departments not communicating well, and not having all the tools they needed – more like things falling through the cracks than a grand plan. Plus, a lot of people just asked, logically, would Pakistan really risk hiding the world’s most wanted man right next to its main military academy? So, the official story became about owning up to those system problems and trying to make them right.

That Abbottabad shock definitely seemed to wake people up and push for some real changes in Pakistan. The Commission made suggestions, and efforts were made to get intelligence agencies working better together, improve policing, and tighten up border control. The idea was, these moves would make them stronger against terrorism. And remember, all this was happening while the whole region was incredibly shaky, with the war in Afghanistan and so many refugees pouring in, which made keeping things secure a massive challenge.

Now, if we’re looking at Pakistan’s track record, it’s not all shadows. They’ve had some real successes in taking down extremist groups. Pakistan was a key player in catching some of Al-Qaeda’s top guys – names like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Abu Zubaydah, and Abu Faraj al-Libbi. These were big deals for global security. And it hasn’t stopped; just recently, in 2025, word is that Pakistani help was crucial in catching Sharifullah, an alleged ISIS-K planner. So, these are examples often used to show that Pakistan is still in this fight.

And we absolutely can’t ignore what this fight has cost the Pakistani people. It’s been devastating. We’re talking over 80,000 lives lost, according to official numbers – ordinary people, soldiers, police. In response, Pakistan has launched huge military operations like Zarb-e-Azb, Radd-ul-Fasaad, and Azm-e-Istehkam right on its own soil to try and clear out these terrorist groups. These weren’t small skirmishes; these were massive efforts that show just how badly terrorism has torn through the country.

Pakistan says it chose this path – to look at its mistakes and try to do better. But at the same time, when Pakistanis look across the border to India, you hear a lot of deep concerns, a lot of frustration about things that just don’t feel resolved. For instance, they talk about the Samjhota Express bombing, where so many Pakistanis died, and there’s this persistent feeling that the people behind it never truly faced justice. Then there are events like Pulwama and Pahalgam, and you hear constant calls from Pakistan for truly independent, open investigations because so many questions are just left hanging, and it feels like accountability is missing. You’ll also hear Pakistanis voice real alarm about groups like the RSS in India, and they worry that extremist actions sometimes happen with a nod from the state, or at least without serious consequences. Pakistan often says these very different ways of handling such serious issues are big reasons why it’s so hard to build peace and trust in the region.

So, yes, Abbottabad was a heavy, significant chapter. But it’s just one piece of a much larger, ongoing story about how Pakistan is trying to deal with terrorism. It’s a story that includes admitting mistakes, trying to change, claiming some victories, and, tragically, suffering enormous losses. Pakistan describes itself as a country that’s continuously working to tackle this threat and do its part for global security, all while juggling a really tough neighborhood and how the rest of the world sees them.