Whatever disputes the Pakistani state has with the Taliban, it is unlikely that its strategic depth with respect to India and strategic relations with the Taliban will be discarded for the lives of hundreds of Pakistani citizens.
The Afghan Taliban has vehemently objected to the lest UN report, as it punches gaping holes into the Taliban’s narrative that it does not shelter and support foreign terror groups. However, the presence of the TTP, Al Qaeda and a host of other terror groups in Afghanistan is undeniable.
All four terrorists, including the emir of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent and the deputy emir of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, are based in Afghanistan.
The TTP claimed that it ended the ceasefire after “the army and intelligence agencies continue to raid and attack” its forces. “And now our revenge attacks will continue in the whole country.”
The Haqqani Network, an integral part of the Taliban whose leader, Sirajuddin Haqqani, is the Taliban’s deputy emir and minister of the interior, is reported to have facilitated the negotiations.
TTP emir Noor Wali Mehsud said that his group “is a branch of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” while traveling throughout Pakistan’s northern areas.
With increased muscle, backing and resources, the TTP – which sent thousands of fighters into Afghanistan to help the Afghan Taliban conquer the country over the summer – can now refocus its efforts on its insurgency in order to overthrow the Pakistani state.
Noor Wali Mehsud has renewed the TTP’s allegiance to the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in the wake of the jihadis’ victory. The Taliban has released numerous TTP and al Qaeda figures from the former government’s prisons in recent weeks, including Faqir Mohammed.
The TTP claimed yesterday’s suicide bombing in Quetta, Pakistan, saying the “martyrdom-seeking” operation targeted Pakistani officials.
Pakistan continues to play its double game by supporting terror groups. Thousands of Pakistanis, including fighters from the Pakistan state-sponsored Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, as well as the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, continue to support the Taliban’s jihad against the Afghan government.
The Pakistani Taliban announced today that its leading ideologue, Khalid Haqqani, has been killed alongside one of his colleagues. Haqqani was a key jihadist thinker and author for the group.
According to a recently released report by a UN Security Council monitoring team, the Taliban is the “primary partner for all foreign terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan,” including al Qaeda. The only exception is the Islamic State, which opposes the Taliban.