In July 2024, the Pakistani Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was declared Fitna-al-Khwarij by the government aiming to reveal its nature and ideology. The return of the Taliban to power in August 2021 has strengthened TTP making it the largest terrorist organization fighting against the state. . There has been a sharp rise in the number of terrorist attacks by TTP since then. The TTP has intensified its activities leading to regional instability. The TTP carried out at least 76 attacks only in May 2023. In short, the return of the Afghan Taliban to power has led to the resurgence of TTP.
The Afghan Taliban emerged as a resistance group in the early 1990s. The members were Afghan Mujaheddin who had resisted the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. They believed in the implementation of Sharia. In November 1994, the Taliban captured Kandahar and Kabul in September 1996. They ruled almost 90 percent of Afghanistan till 2001. After the US attack on Afghanistan, they started an insurgency against the US-backed Afghan government and were able to get hold back of Afghanistan within almost two decades.
The TTP has its roots back to the 2000s. It can be considered as a by- product of the War on Terror. It was founded by Baitullah Mehsud who maintained close ties with Al-Qaeda and Taliban. During the War on Terror, TTP provided shelter in tribal areas of Pakistan to Taliban leaders who were fleeing Afghanistan. Both the TTP and Taliban are Pashtuns and adherents of the Deobandi version of Sunni Islam. The TTP leaders also wanted to establish a Sharia system in Pakistan based on their strict interpretation of Islam. Consequently, it resulted in the inception of TTP in December 2007.
After its founding, TTP carried out several attacks. TTP attacked the US Consulate in Peshawar in December 2010, the CIA Base in Afghanistan in 2009, the Police Academy in Lahore in 2009, and the Army Public School(APS) in Peshawar in December 2014 which resulted in the death of 149 people including 132 children. It also attempted to attack Times Square in the US but failed. It was also claimed by TTP in its book titled: “The Mehsud Revolution in South Waziristan – From British Raj to American Imperialism” that it was involved in the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
The Pakistan military launched a series of counter- terrorism (CT) operations. Operation Rah-e-Raast was initiated in 2009 and lasted for three months resulting in clearance of Swat and death of 2635 terrorists. Moreover, Operation Zarb-e-Azb was launched in 2014 in North Waziristan with almost 3500 TTP fighters killed. Also Operation Radd-ul-Fassad was launched in 2017 for an effective CT campaign. The armed forces of Pakistan were able to crack down on TTP and other terrorist organizations. As a result, TTP suffered disintegration and fighting among its members and some of them even flew to Afghanistan in search of shelter.
However, the situation began to change in 2018 and TTP started to reemerge as a dominant threat. Several factors contributed to the rise of TTP. One of the most important factors contributing to its resurgence was the downfall of the Ashraf Ghani government and the establishment of the Taliban government in August 2021. The Afghan Taliban after taking the reins of power freed several TTP fighters notable among them were Mufti Khalid Bulti and Maulawi Faqir Muhammad who were held in jails by American forces. These prisoners eventually moved to Pakistan and TTP started to reintegrate itself. The Afghan Taliban also regularly provide state sponsorship to TTP. It is in the form of arms supply, terrorist sanctuaries, and monetary and logistic support.
Secondly, leadership change within TTP contributed to the reemergence of the terrorist group. In 2018, the leadership of TTP was given to Nur Wali Mehsud after the death of Mullah Fazlullah. Nur Wali Mehsud has reenergized the group by enhancing internal discipline and giving directives to restrict attacks against civilians.
During the 2018 election campaign, TTP carried out several attacks on election rallies notably killing Haroon Bilour of Awami National Party ( ANP). The TTP also brought a change in its manifesto. It shifted its ideology of killing civilians to military personnel only.
Thirdly, TTP also underwent several organizational changes. Learning from the Afghan Taliban Model, TTP has organized itself into a centralized structure. Its activities have also gone beyond KPK. It has also established its units in Punjab(north and south) and Sindh. It has also started its media wing named Omar Media. The Omar Media regularly posts videos, audio, and pictures of its activities.
Another factor that paved the way for TTP’s resurgence was the alliance of many small terrorist groups. In July 2020, 10 terrorist organizations pledged allegiance to TTP. The TTP also endorses Baloch and Pashtun nationalists. It has publicly stated that it supports the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM). The Islamic State in Khorasan province ( IS-KP) has also supported TTP in its public messages. These are some of the factors which helped TTP to reemerge.
The resurgence of TTP has wide implications for Pakistan. It is a growing threat to Pakistan’s internal stability and threatens the Pak-Afghan relations.Pakistan has tried hard to negotiate with TTP but none of these efforts proved fruitful.The president, prime minister and foreign minister of Pakistan also offered amnesty to TTP if they laid down their arms and returned to normal life. Pakistan has also requested Afghan Taliban to mediate between Pakistan and TTP.
In 2021, TTP entered talks of negotiation with Pakistan’s government after the Afghan On July 31, 2022, Al-Qaeda leader Ayman-al-Zawahiri was killed in a US drone strike in Afghanistan but TTP considered Pakistan responsible for the activity. And on November 28, 2022, it formally announced the end of negotiation talks by blaming Pakistan.
In conclusion, TTP is one of the greatest threats faced by Pakistan. It has become more difficult to eliminate it after its resurgence. In 2024, the government launched Operation Azm-e-Istehkam to counter terrorists. It is high time that all stakeholders on board should act against TTP and prevent it from further destabilizing South Asia.
The Author, Numra Ilyas is a Student of International Relations in University of Sargodha. Her Area of interest include South Asia and Strategic Studies.
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