Jaffer Abbas Mirza: Strategizing The War Against Extremism

Historically, the aftermath of the Cold War presented a number of challenges to existing international hegemony. A subsequent variant of such challenges is the rise of international terrorism. Traditionally, wars were mostly considered to be “inter-state” conflicts. But in our unipolar world, wars have been transformed into an “intra-state” phenomenon. Moreover, traditional theories on war fail to address this non-traditional phenomenon which is also increasingly being described as “asymmetric” warfare. Although some theoretical approaches seem valid in light of the above, they need to be modified to properly construe the nature of current wars and conflicts.  

Celebrated military strategist Carl von Clausewitz’s work is influential in the field of warfare. In his work On War, von Clausewitz maintained that the best way to weaken your enemy is to attack or capture his “centre of gravity”. From Clausewitz’s perspective it may be argued that, if any state gets the control of the enemy’s centre of gravity then, ultimately, its peripheries will also capitulate. Hence, defeat is inevitable.