UN report reveals TTP set up new base in K-P

ISLAMABAD:

The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) established a new base in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in mid-2023, revealed a new UN report, which sheds light on close ties between not only the TTP and the Afghan Taliban but also the anti-Pakistani groups and al Qaeda.

The 33rd report compiled by the UN Monitoring Team was submitted to the UN Security Council last week providing details about the presence of terrorist organisations in Afghanistan and their linkage with the Kabul regime.

“A new TTP base was established in mid-2023 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, where 66 TTP individuals trained as suicide bombers,” the 23-page report read.

It was important to highlight that the new base was established merely months after Pakistan allowed hundreds of TTP terrorists to return as part of the confidence-building measure.

It was evident that the returning TTP terrorists instead of laying down arms regrouped and posed a greater threat to Pakistan’s security.

The increased TTP attacks prompted authorities to withdraw from the peace efforts brokered by the Afghan Taliban.
“[The] TTP was further strengthened and emboldened, increasing attacks with a broader degree of autonomy to manoeuvre,” the UN report said.

“The Taliban are generally sympathetic to TTP aims,” it further said, corroborating evidence on the ground that the TTP and the Afghan Taliban are two sides of the same coin.

Another revelation made in the report is the close nexus between the TTP and al Qaeda.

“Besides supplying weapons and equipment, Taliban rank and file, al Qaeda core and AQIS fighters assisted the TTP forces in cross-border attacks,” the report noted.

Despite Taliban instructing the TTP fighters not to participate in operations outside Afghanistan, many had done so with no apparent consequence, according to the report.

The report further revealed that some Taliban members also joined the TTP, perceiving a religious obligation to provide support.

Interlocutors reported that the TTP members and their families receive regular aid packages from the Taliban.

Also importantly, the UN report said a notable development was the increase of Afghan nationals in the TTP ranks. This endorsed Pakistan’s stance that an increasing number of Afghan nationals were involved in suicide attacks in the country.

The report also noted that the relationship between the Taliban and al Qaeda remained close, and the latter maintained a holding pattern in Afghanistan under the Taliban patronage.

“Regional states assess that the presence of al Qaeda’s senior figures in the country has not changed and that the group continues to pose a threat in the region, and potentially beyond.”

The al Qaeda was reported to have established up to eight new training camps in Afghanistan, including four in Ghazni, Laghman, Parwan and Uruzgan provinces, with a new base to stockpile weaponry in the Panjshir Valley. Some camps might be temporary.

Hakim al-Masri (not listed), based in Kunar province, is responsible for the training camps and conducting suicide bomber training for the TTP.

The UN report further said al Qaeda core and AQIS continue to provide training, ideological guidance, and support to the TTP.

In July 2023, al Qaeda reportedly issued orders for all vehicles used by the group to be gifted to the TTP owing to fear of being targeted by the United States of America. With the consent of senior al Qaeda leaders, AQIS selected approximately 15 commanders to assist the TTP with attacks in Pakistan.

In September, AQIS reportedly supplied armed fighters during the TTP attack in Chitral, Pakistan. The TTP morale increased following international attention on the September attack. Aside from anti-Pakistan operations, the TTP reportedly conducts assassinations of Taliban defecting to ISIL-K.

It also said the short-term detention of 70 to 200 TTP members and the relocation of personnel northward away from the border areas by the Taliban were assessed as deflecting pressure from Pakistan to contain the TTP.

Similarly, the report revealed that a newly formed Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan (TJP) is a front, providing the TTP with plausible deniability, to alleviate the pressure from Pakistan on the Taliban.

The TJP conducted several attacks in 2023, including one against Pakistani security forces in K-P on Dec 12, 2023.

The report said regional states expressed continuing concern for its collaboration with other terrorist groups, especially the TTP, in recruitment, training, planning attacks and posing a regional threat.

One member state reported al Qaeda core providing training and ideological guidance to ETIM/TIP.

Another member state, according to the report, assessed the strength of Majeed Brigade (MB) at 60 to 80 fighters, with recruitment focusing on female suicide bombers.

A couple of member states reported MB cooperation with the TTP and the ISIL-K in training, weapons acquisition, intelligence-sharing and joint operations, although several other member states sought additional information in this regard.

The MB claimed several attacks targeting Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies and Chinese personnel in Pakistan during the reported period.Pakistan reacts to UN report

At a weekly news briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Pakistan had been raising concerns that the terrorist groups and entities threatening the country had found refuge in Afghanistan.

“We are concerned that these groups and entities have a free hand to attack Pakistan, and to sponsor terrorist activities inside Pakistan,” she said.

“And we urge Afghanistan to take immediate and effective action against these terrorist entities, hand over their leadership to Pakistan, and those individuals who have been involved in terrorist activities inside Pakistan.

“We have shared concrete evidence with regards to their involvement with the Afghan authorities.”