The Muhammad Shahzeb Khan Case And What It Reveals About Pakistan's Extremist Networks

The extradition of 20-year-old Muhammad Shahzeb Khan from Canada to the United States on charges of attempting to support the Islamic State group (ISIS) and plotting a mass shooting at a Brooklyn Jewish centre has revived long-standing concerns about violent networks linked to Pakistan. In a recent press release, the U.S. Justice Department said Khan planned to“use automatic weapons to kill as many members of our Jewish community as possible,” calling his ambition“the largest attack on U.S. soil since 9/11.” According to prosecutors, undercover agents posing as accomplices intercepted Khan's messages and arrested him near the Québec–New York border on 4 September 2024 after he tried to enter the United States illegally to carry out the plot.

Canadian authorities describe Khan as a student-visa holder who had been under joint FBI–RCMP surveillance for months. An RCMP statement notes that he reached Ormstown, Québec, with cash intended to pay a smuggler and expressed antisemitic motives in encrypted chats.

Analysts argue that Khan's case is symptomatic of a militant ecosystem that took shape during the Soviet–Afghan war of the 1980s, when Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) channelled arms and money to anti-Soviet fighters. A 2023 study by the European Foundation for South Asian Studies describes a“persistent alliance” between sections of the Pakistani security establishment and jihadist groups, noting that specialized training camps, ideological schools and cross-border financial networks created decades ago still function in modified form today.

Selective enforcement deepens the problem. Organisations viewed as useful to Islamabad's strategic calculus-including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed-have frequently re-emerged after short-lived crack-downs. The 2008 Mumbai attacks, attributed to LeT operatives, killed 164 people; yet key planners named by investigators remain at large. The group's sprawling Markaz-e-Taiba complex near Lahore continues to operate under new management, although Indian officials still describe it as a militant hub. In May 2025, Kyodo News reported that the complex's administrator denied the allegation but confirmed the site had once been run by LeT founder Hafiz Saeed.

Khan's alleged ISIS-inspired plot shows how older structures can feed newer forms of extremism. Digital propaganda and encrypted apps now shorten recruitment cycles, enabling radicals to plan attacks abroad with limited physical training. Experts warn that Pakistani networks can provide expertise or contacts to emergent organisations such as ISIS-Khorasan, broadening the international threat surface.

Pakistan's nuclear history adds a further dimension. A peer-reviewed case study published in the Journal of Strategic Security recounts how the A.Q. Khan network trafficked nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya in the 1980s and 1990s, demonstrating the risks posed when sensitive know-how intersects with clandestine channels. Although Islamabad has tightened safeguards, analysts argue that enduring extremist influence heightens the theoretical danger of insider collusion.

Financing remains another weak point. Informal hawala systems, ostensibly charitable foundations and front companies allow militants to move money across borders with relative ease, prompting repeated admonitions from the Financial Action Task Force and other watchdogs.

Pakistani officials counter that the country has lost tens of thousands of lives to terrorism and that it has recently intensified operations against Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and ISIS-K. They stress that most citizens reject extremist ideology. Critics reply that as long as enforcement distinguishes between“good” and“bad” militants, the infrastructure that enabled Khan's plot will persist.

International partners increasingly tie economic assistance and military cooperation to verifiable steps such as shutting training sites, prosecuting leaders and dismantling illicit finance networks. Without sustained, transparent measures, security specialists warn that Pakistan's militant ecosystem-now linked to ISIS ambitions-will continue to threaten regional and global stability.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official stance of Khaama Press. All information is drawn from publicly available sources. Khaama Press does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the claims made herein.

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