Pakistan entered 2023 in a perilous state. After the attack on Karachi’s Police Headquarters, it is certain that Pakistan remains grossly unprepared for the recent uptick in terrorist activity. The Peshawar attack alone, one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in recent years, should have been a clear warning that we cannot afford to be complacent any longer. For terrorists to twice infiltrate what should be the most secure parts of Peshawar and Karachi signifies the TTP’s steadily ascendant trajectory as a major challenge to Pakistan’s long-term security. The attack follows months of escalated violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the TTP is slowly regaining territorial influence both with the help of sympathisers inside Pakistan and from their ideological twins in adjacent Afghanistan. Despite the state’s attempts at forcing a reconciliation with the TTP, the group has reconsolidated with a vengeance and with a new narrative that targets high-profile individuals and security personnel as opposed to ordinary civilians. The TTP claimed 282 attacks on the Pakistan Army and other law enforcement personnel in 2021. In the first three months of the last year, a whopping ninety-seven soldiers and officers lost their lives in attacks carried out by the TTP. This time, the TTP is better armed and better informed, with local sources suggesting that the group is levying taxes on contractors working on developmental projects such as road construction in Waziristan. We also know that the TTP has a unique talent for recruiting sympathetic youth that has become disenfranchised by the lack of opportunities for employment. This is happening at a time when political resentment in Balochistan and FATA is at an all-time high over increased political censorship and a lack of inclusive development. It was naive to assume that the TTP’s downfall was inevitable and their resurgence reveals the limitations of Pakistan’s existing counter-terrorism initiatives. An abrupt transition from a militarised strategy to a conciliatory one has only complicated the issue. The war on terror proved that violence alone cannot do away with terrorism as long as its underlying grievances, often exploited by militant groups, remain addressed. What we need now is a multidimensional strategy that combines hard and soft power approaches to tackle the terrorist threat. *