From Pakistan to Ukraine, global violence is in flux |
https://arab.news/bfegx
As 2026 unfolds, the world’s relationship with political violence and militancy is no longer defined by clear wars between states and insurgents. Instead, we are living through a diffuse, simmering disorder one in which peace is often proclaimed, but violence is quietly managed rather than genuinely resolved.
Militancy and political violence did not fade in 2025. They reached into communities across the globe. From West Africa to the Middle East, South Asia and across, old patterns of uprising are being replaced by new, unpredictable forms of conflict that disrupt lives and unsettle societies. These struggles are driven less by ideology than by governance vacuums, unresolved grievances, and the contradictions of global power politics. Ideological, sectarian, and sub-national movements continue to exploit fragile societies already stretched by discrimination and political mistrust.
The militant landscape remains crowded and adaptive. Al-Qaeda affiliates, though weakened, remain embedded in local conflicts from the Sahel to Yemen. Daesh and its Khorasan offshoot have struck across borders, exploiting security gaps and radicalized networks. In South Asia, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) have sustained violence by feeding on political alienation and unresolved center-periphery tensions.
In parts of Africa, Jama’at Nusrat Al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) has expanded influence by........