This article explores the Taliban's insurgency (2007-9) in Swat valley (Pakistan), with two objectives: (a) how civilians survive violence and (b) what their survival strategies mean for them. Drawing on in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, conducted in 2016 to 2019, it offers a typology of civilians' survival strategies which includes resistance, accommodation, readjustment and withdrawal. It finds that although the strategies worked, resistance and accommodation have had a detrimental impact on civilians in the form of direct violence. In comparison, readjustment and withdrawal helped them avoiding direct violence but have had a negative impact on civilian life and society.
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