What’s behind the Pakistani Taliban’s lethal insurgency?

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistani Taliban, also referred to as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, claimed duty for Monday’s suicide bombing at a mosque inside a police compound within the northwestern metropolis of Peshawar, in one of many deadliest assaults on safety forces in current months.

The bombing is more likely to pressure relations additional between Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, who’re sheltering the TTP management and fighters.

A have a look at the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which has waged an insurgency within the nation for 15 years:

WHY IS THE TTP FIGHTING AN INSURGENCY?

Angered by Pakistan’s cooperation with Washington within the warfare on terrorism, the TTP was formally arrange by Pakistani militants in 2007 when totally different outlawed teams agreed to work collectively towards Pakistan and help the Afghan Taliban, who have been preventing U.S. and NATO forces.

The TTP seeks stricter enforcement of Islamic legal guidelines, the discharge of its members in authorities custody, and a discount in Pakistani navy presence in elements of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the province bordering Afghanistan that it has lengthy used as a base.

The TTP has stepped up assaults on Pakistani troopers and police since November, when it unilaterally ended a cease-fire with the federal government after the failure of months of talks, hosted by Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers in Kabul.

Earlier than Monday’s bombing, the TTP had repeatedly warned police not to participate in operations towards its fighters in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.

WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TTP AND THE AFGHAN TALIBAN?

The TTP is separate from however an in depth ally of the Afghan Taliban, and that group’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 emboldened the TTP, which shares the group’s ideology.

TTP fighters used to cover in Pakistan’s tribal northwest and likewise had sanctuary in Afghanistan, however they principally lived a fugitive existence.

Nonetheless, the Afghan Taliban began overtly sheltering the TTP after they got here to energy. The Afghan Taliban additionally launched TTP leaders and fighters who had been arrested by earlier administrations in Kabul.

The Taliban have repeatedly mentioned they won’t enable anybody, together with the TTP, to make use of Afghan soil for assaults towards any nation, together with Pakistan. However Pakistani officers say there’s a disconnect between the phrases and actions of the Afghan Taliban, who might cease the TTP from launching assaults contained in the nation however are failing to take action.

The Pakistani Taliban have expressed their allegiance to the top of the Afghan Taliban, mentioned Abdullah Khan, a senior protection analyst and managing director of the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Battle and Safety Research.

He added, nevertheless, that they’ve their very own agenda and technique.

TTP’s operations have largely been aimed toward concentrating on Pakistani forces, just like the Afghan Taliban’s agenda of ousting overseas forces from the nation.

Khan fears that Pakistan will see a surge in militant violence within the coming weeks and months.

HAS VIOLENCE INCREASED RECENTLY?

Pakistan has seen innumerable militant assaults previously 20 years, however there was an uptick since November, when the TTP ended a cease-fire with the federal government that had lasted for months.

The Pakistani Taliban commonly perform shootings or bombings, particularly within the rugged and distant northwestern Pakistan, a former TTP stronghold.

Within the first week of January, militants on a bike shot and killed two policemen in Lakki Marwat, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Monday’s mosque bombing on the police compound in Peshawar was aimed toward safety officers, who have been among the many dozens of victims.

The violence has raised fears amongst residents of a potential navy operation within the former tribal areas of North and South Waziristan, now two districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Hours after Monday’s mosque bombing, Inside Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan advised the unbiased Geo information channel that Afghan Taliban rulers should honor their dedication to the worldwide neighborhood to not enable anybody to make use of their soil for assaults towards one other nation.

“They need to honor their guarantees,” he mentioned.