Published on, Sept. 8 -- September 8, 2025 12:55 AM

Aimal Khattak's Understanding Pashtun Resistance presents itself as a serious intellectual inquiry into Pashtun grievances. In tone and structure, it dutifully mimics academic conventions: citations, historical references, and theoretical framing. Yet peel back the veneer, and it reveals itself not as scholarship but as a politicised narrative that selectively amplifies grievances while erasing integration, sacrifice, and law.

At the heart of the book lies the claim that Pakistan's policies toward Pashtuns have been repressive, marked by military operations, resource exploitation, and political marginalisation. Khattak frames these as the roots of Pashtun "resistance," urging leaders t...