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One of the most pressing challenges in establishing transatlantic security is finding an effective response to religious extremism and Islamist terrorist activity. The attacks of 9/11, the 2004 bomb detonations close to Madrid, the London bombings in 2005, and the recently thwarted car bomb attack in New York's Time Square powerfully demonstrate the need for action to meet religiously inspired violence. Radical Islamist organizations and parties exist all across Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia with Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and the Hezbollah being the most prominent of a comprehensive list varying in influence, membership numbers and religious political goals.

The difficulty lies in estimating the relative danger imposed by individual groups and in finding a contextualized and targeted approach towards specific regional challenges. Since 2001, attention of the transatlantic community has focused on Afghanistan. During Operation Enduring Freedom and the subsequent International Security Assistance Force, (ISAF) the NATO led mission in Afghanistan, to establish post-war stability, NATO and individual member states united against the Taliban forces within the country. The war resulted in many civilian casualties, destroyed basic infrastructure and undermined national attempts for post-Taliban governance, fueling anti-Western sentiments among the Afghan population. First attempts of western military to retreat have been made with state control being handed over to the Karzai administration, but Afghanistan continues to suffer the detrimental consequences of the intervention. The rash warfare, inspiring sentiments of both retaliation and fear, has also ensured the flight of influential Taliban leaders to other countries, thereby dispersing the extremist threat across neighboring regions and widening the geographic scope of Islamist activities.

Special attention must be paid to the Pakistani border region of Baluchistan, a province inhabited by the Baluch ethnic minority. The area is characterized by political instability rooted in Islamabad's repressive minority policies and gross human rights abuses of the ethno-culturally divergent population. The volatile regional situation, tribal activity and hidden mountain passes enabling illegal border crossings, have facilitated a resurgence of the Afghan Taliban in Baluchistan. This revival of extremism manifested itself in the establishment of recruitment centers and facilities for religious indoctrination.

The Pakistani government has refrained from intervention, and reportedly encourages Muslim extremism in order to counteract the nationalist sentiments of the secular Baluch population. Fearing Baluch activism to achieve greater autonomy or secession, Islamabad works to confuse the population's cultural basis of moderate Muslim lifestyle. Drawing on outdated religious policies, which were passed thirty years ago by Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, Pakistan's Ministry of Religious Affairs supports the establishment of Islamic schools (madrassas) in the region, aimed at the radicalization and ideological brainwash of the Baluch people, who traditionally reject the authority of mullahs, men educated in Islamic theology.

Islamabad attempts to undermine the Baluch culture by providing them with an alternative identity closely tied to the Pakistani state. Pashtun Islamist parties such as Maulana Fazlur ur-Rehman's faction of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) are being granted direct governmental support. Furthermore, the provincial elections from October 2002 were manipulated in order to achieve higher influence of religious parties in Baluchistan's politics.

Whilst officially opposing extremist movements in Afghanistan, Islamabad has been fueling another source of danger. However, the acute threat and optimal abatement strategies, which depend on the organization and geographic scope of the terrorist network in question, are difficult to estimate since the region is well-shielded from the transatlantic community.

Entry regulations are very strict - a fact made evident during the 2010 disaster management following Pakistan's flood catastrophe. Despite Baluchistan's urgent relief needs, the Pakistani government principally denied access to international aid agencies so as to hide secret extremist activities, socio-political grievances and chronic economic underdevelopment.

Against the background of the alarming Islamist activities in Baluchistan, which pose a dormant threat of an unpredictable scale, a broadened focus of transatlantic intelligence is urgently required and efforts to circumvent Islamabad's wall of secrecy must be made to enable comprehensive information gathering.

Subsequent policies will have to adopt a fitting approach undermining extremism by backing the moderate Baluch population and increasing regional stability. Rather than employing force to attack Islamist strongholds, which could destroy any remaining infrastructure and harm innocent civilians as seen in Afghanistan, sanctions should be used to improve political representation, physical security and basic freedoms of the Baluch population. Thereby, the traditionally moderate Sunni culture could be strengthened against the attempts of Islamic indoctrination, and further radicalization could be prevented.

With regards to long-standing regional underdevelopment and following the disastrous flooding, which resulted in unprecedented levels of destruction, death and poverty in the whole of Pakistan, sanctions need to be carefully designed so as not to worsen regional economic hardship. The UN Security Council Resolution 1929, which was passed in 2010 in opposition to Iran's nuclear programs, could serve as a model. In particular, elements aimed at sanctioning individuals (e.g. influential state officials and powerful tribal chiefs) could be adopted. Western visa bans limiting individual travelling or the freeze of personal assets could result in highly effective political and economic pressure within Pakistan's undemocratic and corrupt state system.

In view of the omnipresent threat of religiously inspired terrorism and the questionable success of previous military action in Afghanistan, transatlantic decision-makers will have to adapt their intelligence services and anti-terrorist policies to suit the current challenges of spreading extremist movements and growing anti-Western sentiments. Afghanistan's neighboring countries and Pakistan's Baluchistan province in particular have high terrorism potential and need to be targeted with well-informed, contextually sensitive and individualized sanctions, which could counteract Islamism by strengthening moderate religious culture on the grounds.

Eva Krockow earned a Master's degree in International Relations at the University of Durham, England. She is currently working with the Underrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization in Brussels as a Project Assistant.

Read related material from atlantic-community.org members:

• Ulf Gartzke: Germany Pushing for Freedom in Muslim World
• Olivier Guitta: The Muslim Brotherhood in the Middle East and North Africa

This article was submitted for the atlantic-community.org's competition: "Empowering Women in International Relations." It coincides with the 10^th Anniversary of UN resolution 1325  callling for an increased influence of women in all aspects of peace and security. The contest is sponsored by the U.S. Mission to NATO and the NATO Public Diplomacy Division.

You can find out more about the competition here.