Pakistan has once again ruled out the possibility of talks with proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). While responding to a recent suggestion by an Afghan Minister regarding Pakistan’s talks with the banned TTP, Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch categorically declared that Pakistan expects the Afghan authorities to take urgent action against the terrorist outfits and their leadership for the crimes they are committing and terrorist incidents they are responsible for in Pakistan. According to her, Pakistan remains committed to fighting against all terrorist outfits that have targeted Pakistan and the symbols of Pak-China friendship.
Pakistan has witnessed an alarming rise in terrorism-related violence particularly in recent times. There has been a gradual increase in terrorism in the country since the Taliban-ruled government regained control in Afghanistan. Similarly, the lethality of terror attacks has intensified multiple folds since 2022, as compared to the previous years when Afghanistan was under US occupation. Historically, the Pak-Afghan border region, especially Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan provinces, has become a hotspot for frequent terrorist attacks by the TTP and Baloch insurgent groups respectively. The statistical data suggest that the country witnessed 245 terror attacks during the first quarter of 2024, while more than 92% of all fatalities and 86% of attacks accounted for both provinces bordering Afghanistan.
Historically, TTP’s attacks against the state of Pakistan have increased significantly after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, because both groups have identical ideologies and pursue similar manifestos in adjoining nations. Pakistan has persistently raised the issue of TTP safe havens in Afghanistan with Afghan interim authorities who vehemently showed a cold shoulder and refused to cooperate with Pakistan in this regard.
The situation became worrisome and more consequential for Pakistan after several terrorist outfits including Al-Qaeda, the TTP, and its splinter groups allied with having salient support from the cleric regime in Kabul. Historically, the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has become a major irritant in Islamabad’s relations with Kabul as the militant group remained one of the major actors of violence in Pakistan and enjoys haven in Afghanistan. Due to persistent no cooperation from Kabul concerning the TTP, Pakistan sought to downgrade its diplomatic and trade ties with Kabul. It launched surgical strikes against terrorist outfits camped inside Afghanistan.
A ferocious battle between Pakistani LEAs and terrorist outfits is currently underway during which the Pakistani military is hunting down miscreants through intelligence-based targeted operations across the country. In the current scenario, the proposal of dialogue with the TTP is presumably somehow ill-designed, ill-motived, and a continuation of the previous strategy of the Afghan regime wherein the Afghan interim government mediated talks between Pakistan and the TTP two years back. A temporary ceasefire, relocation, and resettlement of miscreants on Pakistani soil in Erstwhile FATA and Malakand division rebirthed the giant of terrorism in the country.
Historically, the Pakistani government out of the well-being of its citizens and traditional religious rituals, provided an opportunity and chance to the miscreants despite their involvement in terrorism against the state, to give up arms and live a peaceful life with their families in their homes, struck a truce with the TTP, alow general amnesty and resettled wanted criminals on its soil. But habitual outlawed and criminals shortly returned to violence and waged a fresh war against the state. Presently, the Pakistani LEAs with full support from the public and partnering nations are embattled with the terrorist outfits in all parts of the country. Pakistan seeks cooperation from the Afghan interim government in its ongoing war against terrorism to shut down terrorism safe havens on its soil and hand over miscreant leadership to Islamabad. Ironically, Afghan leadership betrayed its long-held ally and firmly stands with the TTP leadership, advocating for talks and urging a fresh peace deal like the previous one. Unfortunately, the Pakistani strategists for decades remained in the fantasy of so-called strategic depth and disillusioned with the idea of one nation and two states. The recent events have largely removed the strategic misconception of the Pakistani leaders. Islamabad is now well prepared and can better tackle the menace of terrorism in a befitting manner in the coming days.
