Pakistan, the historic ally of the Afghan Taliban, must manage the unexpected consequences of their return to power in Kabul in the summer of 2021. Islamabad, its army and its secret services have been busy since the fall to put out a hotbed of sedition fed on its own lands by Islamists very close to the new masters of Afghanistan. The Pakistani Taliban of the TTP (Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan) had been weakened since 2015 and driven from their stronghold in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. But the victory of their Afghan cousins reignited the flame of the fight against the Pakistani government. The troops and leaders of the TTP who had had to flee, particularly in Afghanistan, came back in force under the impetus of a new leadership, buoyed by the success of “their Afghan Taliban brothers”.
A secret war is raging on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border, where the very powerful Pakistani military intelligence service ISI is suspected of hunting down TTP executives. A senior leader of the movement, Muhammad Khurasani, who acted as spokesperson, was killed on January 9 or 10, according to sources, in the Afghan province of Nangarhar. He would have died following a drone strike. Like many TTP commanders, he had taken refuge in Afghanistan since 2014 to escape Pakistani services.
Targeted operations
Another TTP leader, Maulvi Faqir Mohammad had been the target on December 16, 2021 of an attack on his residence in the village of Chawgam, Kunar province, northeastern Afghanistan, border with Pakistan. The person concerned was not present at the time of the drone attack, according to the elements provided by the TTP. Mr. Mohammad had been arrested by the previous Afghan regime and had spent several years in Bagram prison, near Kabul. He was released this summer after the Afghan Taliban took control of the country.
These operations targeted against the leaders of the TTP as well as against caches of the Islamist movement in Pakistan, particularly in Quetta, capital of the Pakistani province of Balochistan, mark a break in the strategy of Islamabad which had, at first, favored the dialogue. On November 9, 2021, the Pakistani government had signed a month-long ceasefire agreement which included the release of around 100 militants from the Pakistani Taliban movement. Sign of relaxation, at the end of October, photos of the head of the TTP, Noor Wali Mehsud, were published showing him in Afghanistan, greeting a crowd in front of which he had just spoken in public. Peace talks encouraged and supported by the Afghan Taliban regime.
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