Asif Abbas
Pakistan finds itself once again under siege by the malevolent forces of the TTP, as the group continues to wreak havoc upon the populace and destabilize the already fragile political landscape through a spate of attacks both on civilians and security officials, both along the Pak-Afghan border and within the country. In this dire context, the need for a unified and unwavering response from the State has become acutely pressing, as the continued spread of terrorism threatens to disrupt the country and destroy its already weakened economy.
The TTP’s most recent strike, which targeted the Police Lines mosque in the northwestern part of Peshawar city, resulted in the deaths of over eighty people and injured more than 150, the majority of whom were police officers.
The tragic attack, so devastating in its impact, has been claimed as a retaliatory act by the brother of Umar Khalid Khurasani, a member of the Mehsud chapter of TTP. It is asserted that the attack was executed in response to the death of his brother, which occurred in Afghanistan last August.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif deplored the incident saying, “Terrorists seek to instill fear by targeting those who undertake the duty to defend Pakistan.” To improve the provinces’ anti-terror capacities, he said, a new counter-terrorism plan would be implemented.
Fatalities from terrorist attacks increased by 25 percent in 2022, as reported by the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank. According to this report, at least 262 terrorist incidents occurred over this period, with a total of 419 lives lost.
The Re-Emergence Of TTP
Following the collapse of Ashraf Ghani’s administration in August 2021, the Taliban retook Afghanistan by force and established an interim government. Given Pakistan’s longstanding alliance with the Taliban, many people in Pakistan, including the country’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan, believed that Islamabad had finally secured its Western border.
This was, however, an erroneous assumption: Now, over a year and a half later, the Pak-Afghan border is often the theater of tumultuous confrontations between Afghan Taliban and Pakistani military forces. The most ominous outcome of the Taliban’s reacquisition of control in Afghanistan has been the resurgence of the TTP, which has grown bolder, more pugnacious, and uncompromising in its objectives, aspirations, and goals, due to its belief in the propensity of the Pakistani security apparatus to placate the group whenever an opportunity arises.
In the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, since the proscribed organization proclaimed the termination of a tenuous truce in November of the previous year, acts of suicide bombing, selective assassinations, demands for tribute, and assaults on critical security installations have become a persistent phenomenon.
Fatalities from terrorist attacks increased by 25 percent in 2022, as reported by the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank. According to this report, at least 262 terrorist incidents occurred over this period, with a total of 419 lives lost.
Similarly, in its 2022 annual report, the TTP said it had carried out 367 strikes in Pakistan, resulting in the deaths of 1,105 security officials and their informants. More than a third (at least 348) of these attacks happened in Pakistan’s volatile KP.
The two most audacious strikes were the one that rocked the nation’s capital in the last week of December last year, killing two police officers; and the suicide bombing at the Police Lines mosque in Peshawar, which was unfathomable to the Pakistani populace. These attacks convey a clear warning that Pakistan faces a daunting challenge in countering the rising tide of terrorism along its western frontier, and the malicious intentions of the perpetrators extend to all, leaving neither the general public nor those tasked with their security unscathed.
Partners In Crime: TTP And Afghanistan’s Conservative Islamic Regime
The TTP, since the Taliban’s conquest of Kabul, has risen like a phoenix, wielding potency greater than ever before. After the fall of Kabul, the Taliban leadership freed a huge number of fighters who had been imprisoned by the prior Afghan government, including prominent TTP leaders. Additionally, it appears that the Taliban regime has offered a de facto political refuge and unrestricted mobility to the TTP’s upper echelon within Afghanistan, providing them with a strategic platform from where they conduct their terror operations in Pakistan.
The Afghan Taliban serves as the veritable mothership of the TTP’s movement, a fount of inspiration and guidance for their fervent and fanatical cause. The TTP venerates the Afghan Taliban as a model insurgency, an exemplar of the art of war and the science of subversion. The TTP has taken cues from the Afghan Taliban’s tactics, emulating their methods and adapting them to their circumstances, as they strive towards their ultimate goal of destabilising the state and realising their radical vision. The Afghan Taliban is the progenitor of the TTP’s ideology, the nurturer of their ambitions, and the embodiment of their spirit of rebellion.
The TTP’s chief, Noor Wali Mehsud, has vociferously re-affirmed his loyalty to the Afghan Taliban’s revered leader, Maulvi Hibatullah Akhundzada, and proclaimed the TTP to be an integral part of the Taliban’s broader movement. With this bold and brazen declaration, Mehsud has cemented the TTP’s place as a formidable and fanatic branch of the Afghan Taliban in Pakistan.
The Afghan Taliban, for their part, have been elusive when asked about the current situation and the future of the TTP in Afghanistan, and they have not committed to carrying out a crackdown even though the group has been violent toward Pakistan.
Terrorist acts in Pakistan have, unsurprisingly, skyrocketed since the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan. In lieu of taking direct action against the militants, the Afghan Taliban have consistently demanded that Pakistan address the TTP’s resentments and volunteered to act as a mediator in peace negotiations.
It is obvious that the hardline Islamic government in Afghanistan continues to protect thousands of TTP fighters. The Taliban’s return to power has given the TTP and other transnational militant organisations operating out of Afghanistan more confidence. The TTP, which had previously been divided into several factions, has reportedly been reunified and equipped with the assistance of the Afghan Taliban. They appear to have improved their level of organisation and equipment than earlier.
The option of taking the fight to the TTP deep within Afghanistan, as suggested by the country’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, presents yet another conundrum. This path, too, is shrouded in uncertainty and doubt, with logistical challenges that are formidable and risks that are high.
Are Kinetic Military Operations Still Viable Options?
At the National Security Committee meeting held last month, the ruling coalition reached a decisive conclusion to confront the re-emerging terrorist threat with resolute determination. After exhaustively exploring all possible avenues for dialogue with the TTP, including leveraging the influence of tribal leaders, religious scholars, and even the Afghan Taliban, it was unanimously agreed that further communication with these extremist elements was no longer an option.
February 07, 2023
Source:https://www.thefridaytimes.com/2023/02/07/how-can-pakistan-push-back-against-ttp/
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