UN Says Taliban Swells its Support of TTP Terrorists Against Pakistan
Noriko Watanabe, Kanako Mita, and Sawako Utsumi
Modern Tokyo Times
A report by the United Nations accuses the Taliban of increasing its support for Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (Tehrik-i-Taliban – TTP) terrorists against Pakistan.
The report stipulates that the TTP is “the largest terrorist group” in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Hence, increasing TTP Islamic terrorist attacks in Pakistan are being encouraged tacitly by the Taliban.
In March, Pakistan launched airstrikes against the TTP in Afghanistan.
The Foreign Ministry of Pakistan – after the Taliban rebuked Pakistan for violating its sovereignty – said, “We have repeatedly urged the Afghan authorities to take concrete and effective action to ensure that the Afghan soil is not used as a staging ground for terrorism against Pakistan. We have also called on them to deny safe havens to TTP and to hand over its leadership to Pakistan.”
The TTP – similar to the Taliban and other Islamists – is utilizing NATO weapons that were left behind hastily when President Joe Biden of America decided to pull American troops out of Afghanistan.
The UN report stated, “TTP continues to operate at a significant scale in Afghanistan and to conduct terrorist operations into Pakistan from there, often utilizing Afghans.”
The report also said, “Taliban support to TTP also appears to have increased.”
Lee Jay Walker (Modern Tokyo Times analyst) says, “Ironically, Afghanistan and Pakistan were built on the ashes of Buddhism, Hinduism, Nestorian Christianity, Paganism, and Zoroastrianism after countless Islamic invasions. Fast forward, and now Islamists are killing Muslims and targeting each other – while religious minorities (Ahmadiyya, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and others) are persecuted in Pakistan – non-Muslims have already been erased in Afghanistan. Therefore, it is incumbent on Pakistan to stem the tide of internal religious extremism and to focus on modernization – if not, events in Afghanistan and Iran are clear warnings.”
Voice of America reports, “TTP emerged in Pakistan’s volatile border areas in 2007, providing recruits and shelter to the Afghan Taliban as they intensified insurgent attacks against U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan in the years that followed.”
The report also said that al-Qaida regional operatives are training the TTP in Afghanistan.
Reuters reports, “Islamabad says TTP leaders have taken refuge in neighboring Afghanistan where they run camps to train Islamist militants to launch attacks inside Pakistan.”
Lee Jay Walker says, “It is incumbent on Afghanistan and Pakistan to solve complex issues. Afghanistan seeks foreign capital to exploit its natural resources – and Pakistan needs political stability. Therefore, border escalations, terrorism, and mistrust are not in the interest of Afghanistan and Pakistan.”
The Taliban is also worried about the internal menace of the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISIS-K). Accordingly, if the Taliban turns against the TTP, the Taliban will fear ISIS-K and TTP Islamists making a pact.
America is also worried about ISIS-K, TTP, and al-Qaida affiliates utilizing Afghanistan and launching terrorist attacks further afield. For example, ISIS-K was blamed for attacks last year in Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Islamic fundamentalism that erased many non-Muslim faiths in these lands is now a menace to the progress of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Ultimately, until Islamism is contained, this draconian Islamist reality will continue to hinder the progress of Afghanistan and Pakistan – respectively.
The United Arab Emirates and Malaysia (for example) are focused on modernity and not religious extremism.
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