According to a recent study by a renowned US think tank, the Taliban leaders in Afghanistan are unlikely to stop funding militants in Pakistan because they believe that Pakistan’s economic woes prevent Islamabad from launching a significant operation against the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, which is outlawed (TTP). The US Institute of Peace assessment, which was released in Washington on Tuesday, warned that the Pakistani Taliban have reemerged as an increasingly potent danger in the midst of Pakistan’s economic turmoil and the Taliban’s control in Afghanistan.
Referring to Kabul’s recent criticism of Islamabad’s policies, the article claimed that “this undiplomatic rhetoric reflects the Taliban’s determination to continue supporting the TTP, especially in the face of heightened pressure from Pakistan.” According to USIP, the Taliban’s response to being questioned about their support for the TTP has been to make denials, which “does not imply an imminent change away from that support.”
With politics drowning out everything else in Pakistan, the troubling reality is that the country is facing an ever-present terrorist threat, primarily in the form of the TTP. Though the group’s violence has not reached the heinous levels of a decade ago, the situation is far from normal. Consider the Tuesday twin attacks in KP, which killed at least five security personnel, including a senior ISI officer. Brig. Mustafa Kamal Barki, an intelligence officer, was killed along with his driver in South Waziristan, close to the Afghan border, when he was ambushed by terrorists.
In the other incident, at least three troops were killed in an ambush in Dera Ismail Khan. While no group has claimed responsibility for either attack, the TTP is active in both areas, and splinter groups may have also been involved. The ability of militants to strike cities, as they have in Peshawar and Karachi in recent months, as well as target troops in the field in remote areas, demonstrates their reach and operational capabilities. Before the TTP or other bad actors develop the confidence to undertake even more ambitious attacks, these capabilities must be neutralised by security personnel.
According to ISPR, over 140 militants have been killed in recent months, over 1,000 fighters have been arrested, and thousands of operations have been carried out. While counterterrorism efforts appear to be having an impact, no safe havens for terrorists can be left in the country, particularly in remote areas along the Pakistan-Afghan border.
Security forces must pay special attention to these off-the-beaten-path areas as well as conduct intelligence-based operations in cities and crack down on terrorist finances.
Sustained diplomatic efforts are also required to persuade the Afghan Taliban not to use their territory to host anti-Pakistan terrorists. The Afghan rulers are notoriously evasive about TTP activities in their country, but Pakistan must send a clear message: There will be no safe havens for terrorists in Afghanistan.
Internal political dissonance is hindering counterterrorism efforts. To those who wish to harm the country, our feuding political forces present a picture of weakness and discord. In the fight against terrorism, politicians — both treasury and opposition — and the establishment must be on the same page and pursue a single goal: to eliminate the country’s militant infrastructure and deal with the root issues that contribute to it. Politics on this fundamental issue will only make things worse for the nation.
