When the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August last year, government officials, retired military officers, and hard-line clerics in neighbouring Pakistan celebrated the militant groups return to power, RFE/RL reported. Observers had warned that the Taliban’s forcible takeover of Afghanistan may galvanise Pakistan’s personal violent insurgency.
Those fears have now been realised because the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, has intensified its assaults in latest months, the report stated.
In an additional blow to Islamabad, the Afghan Taliban has been unwilling to crack down on the TTP, an in depth ideological and organisational ally. A serious Pakistani navy offensive in 2014 drove lots of the militants from the nation’s tribal belt throughout the border to Afghanistan.
Analysts say the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan has emboldened and strengthened the TTP. The withdrawal of overseas troops from Afghanistan in August final 12 months considerably lowered US air strikes within the area, permitting the TTP to function extra freely, the report stated.
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TTP fighters have additionally obtained subtle weaponry, together with US-made firearms, which their Afghan allies seized from Afghanistan’s defeated armed forces.
Since the talks collapsed, the TTP has carried out a spate of lethal assaults towards Pakistani safety forces. The militant group claimed duty for the killing of 4 Pakistani troopers within the North Waziristan tribal district on December 30, 2021. A day earlier, one police officer was killed in the identical district by armed militants on bikes who managed to flee, RFE/RL reported.
Abdul Basit, a Pakistani counterterrorism and safety skilled, says the TTP is sending a sign to Islamabad that it’s negotiating from a place of energy.
Basit says the TTP principally targets Pakistani safety forces and has moved away from a worldwide to native jihadist narrative.
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“The group’s change in focus and rhetoric coupled with the sanctuaries at its disposal in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime makes the TTP a long-term threat for Pakistan,” he says, the report added.
Abdul Sayed, a Sweden-based researcher who tracks militant teams within the area, says the Afghan Taliban is unlikely to bow to Islamabad’s demand that it expels the TTP or prevents it from utilizing Afghan territory for finishing up assaults in Pakistan.
Observers say the TTP has additionally been boosted by the pullout of overseas troops from Afghanistan in August final 12 months and the lowered variety of US drone strikes within the area. Over the years, US air strikes have been profitable in eliminating successive TTP leaders and commanders.
But with the US counterterrorism functionality within the area severely diminished, TTP fighters have been allowed to maneuver and function comparatively freely, observers say, the report added.
