Pakistan accuses Afghan Taliban of controlling TTP

Country’s special representative for Afghanistan says TTP-Taliban may be two sides of same coin

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan's chief diplomat for Afghanistan has alleged that the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is under the control of the Afghan Taliban, and that the TTP-Taliban relationship is hurting the bilateral relationship between the two neighbors.

"We cannot fathom the fact that the TTP people, who are living in Afghanistan, are under their (Afghan Taliban) control. They are allowed to cross the Pakistan border and conduct sabotage activities, massacre and then go back.

This is something that is discomforting for us," Pakistan special representative for Afghanistan Asif Durrani said in an interview on Ambassadors Lounge.

Pakistani officials have often privately spoken about the Afghan Taliban-TTP nexus, but this is the first time a senior official has publicly talked about it.

This indicates the state of the relationship between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban, whose return to power two years ago generated a lot of euphemism in the country. But the TTP issue has emerged as a major stumbling block as Pakistan is increasingly worried about Kabul's support for the terrorist outfit.

"For us, the major issue is the TTP," Durrani said, adding that it was the responsibility of the Afghan Taliban government to control the TTP and disarm them. He said the Afghan Taliban could not shy away from that responsibility. "This is not good for bilateral ties," he cautioned.

Durrani also spoke about the "symbiotic relationship" between the Afghan Taliban and the TTP. "It is said they (Afghan Taliban and TTP) are the two sides of the same coin," he remarked in yet another candid admission that Pakistan misunderstood their relationship previously.

During the height of the war on terror and the US military campaign in Afghanistan, Pakistani officials often drew a distinction between the Afghan Taliban and the TTP. They viewed the Afghan Taliban as a national movement struggling against foreign occupation while termed the TTP as a terrorist outfit.

However, with the return of the Afghan Taliban to power, the thinking and narrative in Islamabad and Rawalpindi have changed. Now, Pakistan views the TTP as an extension of the Afghan Taliban. Some even suspect that the Afghan Taliban might be using the TTP as a proxy against Pakistan.

Read More: Pakistan, Afghan Taliban ties on the edge

Interestingly, some Afghan nationals were involved in some recent terrorist attacks claimed by the TTP. Pakistan feels that the low-ranked Afghan Taliban might be facilitating the TTP.

Durrani referred to two of these recent attacks. He said there was evidence that three of the five terrorists involved in the Zhob Garrison attack were Afghans. Similarly, some Afghan nationals also participated in the Chitral attack claimed by the TTP.

According to Durrani, around 6,000 TTP terrorists were operating from Afghanistan. Their number goes up to 60,000-65,000 if their families are also counted.

"The interim government in Afghanistan claims they have brought peace inside the country. They say there is minimum crime in the country. They claim there is no corruption in the country. They say they have improved the economy. All said and done. Also, there is an acknowledgment at the world level that the situation has improved, especially opium cultivation has come down to 95%.

"If that is correct it means peace in Afghanistan, in fact, has become a nightmare for Pakistan because those people who are taking sanctuaries are inside Afghanistan," Durrani said.

He said he twice visited Kabul, and the Afghan Taliban had been saying they were taking action against the TTP. "The issue is what practical action they take. That matters," Durrani said.

He also said the Afghan Taliban’s Amir had issued a decree, forbidding attacks against Pakistan. But despite the edict, the TTP attacks continued.

"Their [Taliban] ministers also made similar remarks. So are we to accept that the TTP is disobeying this order? If this is the case, then the allegiance which the TTP has declared to the Taliban chief has been invalidated. If this allegiance has been invalidated, then the TTP is liable to be punished.

“If you are talking about Islam or tradition, then in both cases the issue of punishment is raised because they [TTP] are abusing Afghanistan's soil,” Durrani said.