Taliban in Pakistan Encouraged by Affiliate Group's Takeover of Afghanistan
The Taliban in Pakistan were encouraged by the group’s takeover of Afghanistan and are suspected of re-emerging along the country’s border, The Associated Press reported Monday.
A Taliban movement tried to overthrow the Islamabad government in Pakistan, and the militants appear to be gearing up to retake territory occupied by tribal groups along the country’s border with Afghanistan, after they lost to the Pakistani military seven years ago, according to the AP.
The Taliban group in Pakistan is known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban and is separate from the Taliban in Afghanistan, though the groups are aligned and share similar ideologies.
“The Afghan Taliban’s stunning success in defeating the American superpower has emboldened the Pakistani Taliban. … They now seem to believe they too can wage a successful jihad against the Pakistani ‘infidel’ state and have returned to insurgency mode,” said Brian Glyn Williams, a professor of Islamic history at the University of Massachusetts.
The TTP was established in the 2000s and started a violent campaign against the Pakistani government before being suppressed around 10 years later.
The group started reorganizing in Afghanistan before the Taliban’s takeover and has increased attacks in Pakistan recently.
The Pakistan-based Taliban implemented surcharges on local contractors, killing people who refuse to pay.
The family of Noor Islam Dawar, a Pakistani contractor who built a canal worth around $5,000 near the Afghan border, blamed the Taliban for his fatal shooting after he was unable to pay a $1,100 fee in September.
Radical religious groups were also encouraged by the takeover, according to Amir Rana, executive director of the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies.
The groups sometimes organize protests drawing thousands of attendees in support of a hardline understanding of Islamic law and denounce Shiite Muslims in Pakistan.
The Taliban ousted former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s government in August as the Biden administration was withdrawing U.S. troops from the country.
Pakistan has not yet formally recognized the ruling Taliban government but has encouraged other world leaders to work with the new regime.
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