By Jai Kumar Verma
New Delhi. 17 November 2023. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Pakistan more than a decade ago in a joint press conference with Pakistan’s the then Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar that “You can’t keep snakes in your backyard and expect them to only bite your neighbour”. As expected, Pakistan has neither adhered to this rationale nor taken the advice and continues supporting multiple terrorist organisations and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) popularly known as Pakistan Taliban is one of them.
In June 2022 TTP terminated the truce with Pakistan government and issued instructions to its fighters to carry out attacks on Pakistani security forces all over the country. On 4 November this year Tehreek-i-Jihad Pakistan (TJP) a newly constituted terrorist outfit and frontal organisation of TTP has attacked Pakistan Air Forces’ heavily guarded M.M. Alam airbase at Mianwali. According to Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR) statement there was damage to three already phased out non-operational aircraft, and nine terrorists were eliminated by the security forces. However according to reports coming from Pakistan, 14 aircraft were damaged, and 35 personnel were slayed. The TJP circulated a video on social media depicting the damage of aircraft and murder of security personnel.
On 3rd November 2023, 17 Pakistani security personnel were killed in terrorist attacks in Gwadar, Dera Ismail Khan and Lakki Marwat. In July 12 soldiers were killed while TJP attacked a military base in Balochistan. On 6 November Lt. Col Muhammad Hassan Haider and three soldiers were killed by terrorists in Tirah area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. TTP has enhanced terrorist attacks including suicide bombings on police stations, check posts, army convoys and defence installations after the ceasefire between Pakistan government and TTP has broken down in June 2022. According to reports in 2023 TTP carried out more than 300 attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which includes Bajaur.
TTP which is an Islamist terrorist organisation proclaims to impose Islamic rule in Pakistan as Taliban has done in Afghanistan. TTP is carrying out terrorist attacks in mosques, markets, crowded places besides attacking security personnel and defence installations. The TTP attacks in Pakistan has considerably increased after Taliban has taken over Afghanistan in August 2021, large number of civilians and security personnel were killed by them. TTP leaders have shifted their operational base to Afghanistan after Taliban established their government in the country. There are allegations that Afghan nationals also took part in the TTP attacks in Pakistan.
Asif Durrani Pakistan’s special envoy in Afghanistan, stated in a seminar in October 2023 that although Islamabad helped Taliban which has brought peace and tranquility in Afghanistan but now Taliban are assisting Pakistani terrorists and they are creating law and order problem in Pakistan. These attacks are initiating trouble in Pakistan Afghanistan relations also. He also mentioned that Islamabad had several dialogues with Kabul in which Pakistan requested that Taliban should stop sheltering TTP which is involved in cross-border attacks in Pakistan. Durrani also asserted that TTP is a global terrorist outfit and it enhanced assaults in areas abutting Afghanistan and after the assaults TTP terrorists take shelter in Afghanistan. Durrani stated that although he does not blame government of Afghanistan, but Islamabad expected that as Pakistan helped Taliban in establishing peace in Afghanistan, Taliban would also help Pakistan in restoring peace in border areas.
TTP claims that it is an extension of Afghan Taliban, and they owe loyalty to Hibatullah Akhundzada the supreme leader of Afghan Taliban. Pakistan was so perturbed because of rising violence in the country and Afghanistan’s involvement in it that Islamabad ordered that all illegal immigrants including more than 1.7 million Afghans residing in Pakistan must leave the country on or before 1st November 2023. The caretaker government in Islamabad mentioned that the Afghan migrants are involved in terror attacks, street crimes as well as organised crimes including drug trafficking. Taliban ruled Kabul has requested Islamabad to review its decision. Taliban Defence Minister Muhammad Yaqoob also said that “Pakistan’s decision to expel Afghans is unjustifiable and inhumane, and we condemn it”. The Foreign Ministers of both the countries also recently met on the sidelines of an international conference organised by China and discussed the issue.
The issue of Afghanistan assistance to TTP is creating trouble between Kabul and Afghanistan. Recently Pakistan banned more than 200 items and put a 10% duty on several items exported from landlocked Afghanistan through Pakistan. Kabul has also threated to take stringent action against Pakistan as Islamabad also conduct trade with landlocked Central Asian countries through Afghanistan. The trade between Pakistan and Central Asian countries has considerably increased since Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan.
In 2007 few terrorist organisations have constituted TTP which is a Sunni organisation, and its aim is to end Pakistan’s sway from the then Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. TTP pledges to enforce stringent Sharia in whole of Pakistan as well as expulsion of US led coalition forces from Afghanistan. TTP also openly claims that it would overthrow present Pakistan government and would establish Islamic Caliphate in Pakistan. TTP had close ties with al-Qaeda leaders.
The analysts also claim TTP is getting full support from Afghan Taliban as both are Pashtuns and the Pashtuns want to establish a separate Pakhtoonistan. Afghanistan never accepted Durand line which divides Afghanistan and Pakistan. TTP is attacking Pakistan defence forces as army is a big uniting force in the country. In this year terrorists have killed about 339 security forces personnel and out of them more than 130 were from Pakistan army. According to other reports, suicide bombing has increased 500% while terrorist activities enhanced 60% in 2023.
TTP is also attacking Pakistan Air Force bases and in last about 11 years six PAF bases including Mehran, Peshawar, Karachi, Kamran, Quetta and Mianwali were attacked. TTP and Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) have also joined hands against Pakistan defence forces. These terrorist outfits have safe havens in Afghanistan which are used by them for rest, future planning, training, and recruitment of new cadres etc.
Most of the attacks of TTP are successful as the outfit is getting actionable intelligence. The sources reveal that now dissatisfied Pashtuns in Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) are passing information about defence forces to the TTP. Punjabi group in ISI supports General Munir as he was ISI chief too but he was removed from the post by Imran Khan who is a Pashtun and he appointed Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed as ISI chief. Retired Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed was not only close to Imran Khan but also helped Afghan Taliban.
In April Pakistan carried out airstrikes inside Afghanistan on TTP hideouts but as the PAF lacked the required intelligence more civilians were killed and there was not much damage to TTP fighters. However, Kabul took a strong note of it and summoned Pakistan’s envoy and threatened that if more attacks would be done in Afghan territory Kabul would also retaliate with full force. Islamabad also lodged a strong protest that terrorists are using Afghan territory for making assaults in Pakistan and Kabul should act against these terrorist outfits.
Pakistan claims that Taliban have given TTP de-facto political asylum and TTP has enhanced cross border attacks. In the beginning Islamabad played down these attacks in public but privately told Taliban to control TTP. But as Taliban have soft corner for TTP instead of controlling them, Taliban told Islamabad to address TTP’s “grievances”. As TTP was getting support from Taliban, in April it launched “Al-Badr” under which it intensified its attacks on Pakistan security forces.
Taliban are assisting TTP because of ideological proximity as both want to enforce stringent form of Sharia. TTP also shows that it is junior to Taliban, besides it there are personal war-time ties between Taliban and TTP leaders. Both TTP and Taliban are Pashtuns, and they have tribal ethnicity and lot of hatred towards Pakistanis. Taliban also use TTP as a tool to pressurise Pakistan government. TTP has considerable support in Afghanistan, and it would not be easy for Taliban to take stringent action against them.
Pakistan which is facing multiple problems may not take any stern overt action against Afghanistan. Islamabad will try to nullify those Taliban leaders who are supporting TTP. It would also try to seize assets of Taliban leaders in Pakistan and may act against families of Taliban leaders residing in Pakistan. The expulsion of illegal Afghans residing in Pakistan is also a move to pressurise Taliban. Pakistani religious clerics may also try to influence Taliban to take action against TTP. Islamabad has already started putting economic restrictions on Afghanistan, but it would not be easy to control TTP because religious extremism is at its zenith in Pakistan as well as in Afghanistan and TTP has lot of support in both the countries. In nutshell Pakistan should amend its policies and stop aiding and abetting terrorism as in the end it may harm it more than the neighbours.
(Jai Kumar Verma is a Delhi-based strategic analyst and member of United Services Institute of India and The Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses,. The views in the article are solely the author’s. He can be contacted at editor.adu@gmail.com)
