Storming the world stage: the story of lashkar-e-Taiba

On November 26, 2008, ten men boarded a boat in Karachi and hijacked an Indian fishing trawler, killing four of the vessel’s crewmen and forcing its captain to sail toward India. Four miles off the coast of Mumbai, these men abandoned the trawler for inflatable speedboats. Within hours, multiple targets in Mumbai were hit in a series of simultaneous and well-coordinated attacks. Over the course of three days, more than 170 people would be killed and more than 300 injured. The victims included members of the Indian elite as well as Jews and Westerners.

The Mumbai attacks placed Lashkar-e-Taiba high on the list of the world's most fearsome terrorists. A complex and powerful group that rose to prominence with Pakistani state support, Lashkar has sent scores of fighters to Iraq and Afghanistan and provides essential strategic and tactical help. Lashkar was formed through years of training in the trenches of Kashmir, and its skill in executing efficient and effective insurgencies has made the organization extremely attractive. Nevertheless, Lashkar remains wary of associating too closely with al-Qaeda, which has close ties to Pakistan's government, and al-Qaeda is afraid to ally itself too well with Lashkar, thus jeopardizing their partnership with the Pakistani state. Were the Mumbai attacks evidence of Lashkar's increasing infiltration of al-Qaeda’s domain? Were they simply the latest in a series of attacks on Pakistan’s historic rival?

Stephen Tankel charts the development of Lashkar from a small resistance to the largest, most feared organization operating in Kashmir, India, and Pakistan today. He considers the quality of the threat Lashkar now poses to Pakistan, India, and the West, and how this threat will evolve.