Farooq Yousaf

• PhD (Politics)
• Senior Researcher at Independent Researcher

While numerous publications have examined the challenges faced by non-native (often Western) academics conducting research in repressive and/or illiberal countries, there is a significant gap in the literature regarding the unique obstacles encountered by native scholars. This book aims to bridge the gap by presenting narratives from nineteen schol...

This chapter discusses the under-researched issue of masculinities in the conflict and post-conflict societies of the Afghanistan–Pakistan border region, with a particular focus on the Pashtun ethnic group. The chapter highlights the importance of understanding the different dynamics of Pashtun masculinities, their construction, and the influence o...

Analyses of women’s rights and gender equality in Afghanistan have historically depicted a clear binary: patriarchal and conservative men resisting aspirational women. However, such analyses have failed to account for the significant number of men in Afghanistan who have been vocal advocates for women’s rights and have worked tirelessly towards bui...

In recent history, wars guided by external policies and interests, both regional and global, have been fought in Afghanistan. In the process, human security was ignored and indigenous knowledge and bottom–up approaches to resolving conflicts for sustainable peace were neither required nor mobilised for the benefit of the Afghan people. Because of t...

Analyses of women's rights and gender equality in Afghanistan have historically depicted a clear binary: patriarchal and conservative men resisting aspirational women. Neglected in these analyses are the many men who have spoken up for women's rights and have worked for a gender-just society in Afghanistan. For instance, the Women's International L...

Norway’s and Switzerland’s recent hosting of the de facto Taliban regime representatives in early 2022 has overshadowed the risks to women and their rights in the aftermath of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. Unless international and European policymakers make significant policy interventions while engaging with the de facto Talib...

Published in ECPR's The Loop Blog

On August 31, 2021, the US completed its twenty-year war on terror in Afghanistan. Soon after, the Taliban and its allies established full control over Afghanistan. As the days pass, observers, both within and outside the country, are wondering what the future holds for a Taliban-led Afghanistan. This paper, using mainstream and social media source...

This policy brief informs on the situation on the ground in Afghanistan and what the future holds for the war-torn country under a Taliban regime. The brief discusses recent developments in the country, Taliban’s PR campaign and the (grim) situation for gender and media rights under the Taliban regime in the country. In its concluding section, the...

Ethnic Pashtuns, especially in Pakistan, have suffered from racialised colonial narratives and representations that portray them as ‘uncivilised’, ‘primitive’, and ‘violence-condoning’ individuals. Adding to this predicament, many ethnographic and political, especially colonial, accounts on the Pashtuns are authored by non-native writers leading to...

In recent years, scholars and peace practitioners have expressed interest in exploring the role of traditional methods in peace and conflict resolution strategies. However, many “traditional” societies – which are often characterised by male authority and decision-making at home, rigid gender roles, and definitions of masculinity that are linked to...

This article charts the historical marginalization of Pashtun tribal areas to the periphery of the Pakistani state and undertakes an analysis of the recent movement for their integration in Pakistan’s constitutional structure. It also analyzes contemporaneous developments in Pakistan’s constitutional system, in particular the accommodation of a str...

Pakistan’s Pashtun tribal areas — formerly known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) — have remained a centre of violence since the United States invaded Afghanistan in October 2001. Various militant groups have since used the region as a base for attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This conflict has not only affected the socio-polit...

Book Description This book shows how colonial legacies and the postcolonial state of Pakistan negatively influenced the socio-political and cultural dynamics and the security situation in Pakistan’s Pashtun ‘tribal’ areas, formerly known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). It discusses the history and background of the former-FATA r...

Pakistan’s Pashtun tribal region, formerly known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), has witnessed decades of instability, conflict, and deterioration in the postcolonial state of Pakistan. Soon after Pakistan’s independence on August 14, 1947, the Pashtun tribal frontier (later known as FATA), carved out by the British Raj to tame t...

COVID-19 lockdowns throughout the world have aggravated socio-political inequalities, especially in the Global South as governments try to respond to the pandemic. Various terrorist, radical and violent extremist groups, especially the so-called Islamic State, are trying to cash in on these inequalities to propagate hate-filled narratives.

Published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) - The Strategist

Since territorial and organisational setbacks in Iraq and Syria, coupled with improvements in financial and border controls, the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group is employing unconventional strategies to attract recruits, such as the use of kinship and family networks. This paper discusses the potential of kinship and family ties in IS’ terror re...

Pakistan yet again featured on global headlines when on Tuesday, May 21 2020, a journalist, relatively critical of the country’s military and security agencies, was kidnapped in broad daylight by men in police uniforms. Matiullah Jan, who works in Islamabad, was picked up at around 11 a.m. by 10 men after he arrived at a school to drop off his wife...

Pakistan and Kenya, though culturally and geographically different, are two states where certain colonial legacies exist in the state and political sphere, even after independence from their colonial masters. This especially applies when dealing with the ‘peripheral’ groups. In the case of Pakistan, the ‘tribal’ Pashtuns have suffered due to persis...

There is growing recognition and appreciation of traditional approaches towards peace and conflict resolution across the world. This article aims to highlight the crucial role and consequential importance of traditional mechanisms of peace and conflict resolution in Pakistan’s terror-hit Pashtun ‘tribal’ areas, formerly known as the Federally Admin...

The U.S. drone campaign in Pakistan’s Pashtun ‘tribal’ areas, formerly known as FATA, has remained one of the most contentious issues since the war on terror began in 2001 in Afghanistan. Though drone strikes have polarised opinions, they have also resulted in the elimination of lower, middle and higher-level leaders of all militant groups based in...

Published by South Asia Democratic Forum. URL: https://www.sadf.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Comment-140-PTM-Farooq-Yousaf-9-May-2019.pdf

Postcolonialism, as a discipline and approach, offers an analytical lens through which to investigate problems in formerly colonized states of Africa and South Asia, along with a poststructuralist perspective on culture and discourse on politics of representation. Pakistan is one such former colony where postcolonial narratives and the persistence...

The tribal Pashtuns of Pakistan, based in the Afghanistan–Pakistan border region, have historically been portrayed as “violent” and “warrior-like,” both in the colonial and contemporary literature. However, a brief review of archival literature suggests that oriental representation of tribal Pashtuns is based on various generalizations that were fo...

Since the process of decolonization started after the conclusion of the Second World War, a major victim of this process was indigenous cultures and social structures in most of the former colonies. This paper draws its analysis from postcolonial theory by considering the detrimental effects that colonialism has left on the culture and governance i...

Pakistan is experiencing a youth bulge with more than half of its population under the age of 30 years. Economic, political and security challenges, however, prevent the nation from fully utilizing its demographic advantage. Over the last decade, terrorism has become a major security issue. This article is based on primary research of Pakistani uni...

This report – part of the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) special publications series – provides a brief introduction to the history, culture, traditions and demographics of the ethnic Pashtun tribes inhabiting the north-western border regions of Pakistan. The 27,220 square kilometre area inhabited by these tribes is historically kn...

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have mostly been hostile since 1947. The animosity has grown in complexity from various territorial disputes to frequent allegations of cross-border terrorism in the post-9/11 era. This article first makes a case for involving Jirgas, a traditional dispute resolution mechanism among Pashtuns, for improving...

This report is a part of CRSS’s special publication series that focuses on perception and impact of drone strikes on security and counter-terrorism in Pakistan. The report discusses the background of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)-operated US drone strikes in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), along with how the success o...

The report discusses the background of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)-operated US drone strikes in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), along with how the success of the first strike and the confusion surrounding it gave the US an unmanned option to target alleged terror heads in the region.Since the first strike in 2004 wh...

Since the creation of Pakistan in 1947, religious minorities in the country have faced systematic marginalisation through various constitutional amendments. The state has not only failed to protect the rights of its minorities, but has also done little to ensure equal rights, and freedom of speech, religion and life for the small minority populatio...

APSA - Spotlight South Asia Paper Nr. 13/ 2014 September 2014 ISSN 2195-2787

The U.S. drone campaign was formally started in Pakistan’s FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) region in 2004. These CIA-operated drone strikes are negatively perceived in Pakistan. This research explores the factors that influence and shape such a negative drone discourse and perception in Pakistan. A combination of secondary literature and...

This analysis delves deeply into the argument over legality of drone attacks, a source of friction between Pakistan and United States ever since 2004 when they were first launched in Pakistan's tribal areas. In justifying the legality of the attacks, American government cites a domestic law, the Authorization of the use of military force, as well a...

APSA - Spotlight South Asia Paper Nr. 10/ 2013 October 2013 ISSN 2195-2787