Threat Posed by the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) to the Cooperation between Pakistan & China

The United States and its international coalition partners are set to completely withdraw their troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021. Following the Doha Agreement between the US and the Taliban, fierce fighting has ensued in Afghanistan between the Taliban and the government forces. Amid all the violence and instability in the country, there is a high probability that extremist and terrorist organisations like ETIM might resurface and re-initiate their terror campaigns in the region. Such developments in the region pose a grave threat to regional states (particularly Pakistan and China), their development, economic and commercial, political, strategic and national interests along with threats to their respective societies. This research paper will try to give an overview of the contemporary situation in the region, organisational profile and current state of ETIM (the group in focus for this study) and analyse the threats posed by ETIM to the cooperation between Pakistan and China.