, ranging in number from 3,500 to 5,500. Since last October, the Pakistani government has sought the help of the Taliban regime to negotiate peace with the TTP, but to no avail. A ceasefire also remained in force for several months. No longer. The reason is obvious.
A week after Al-Zawahiri’s assassination, TTP commander Omar Khalid Khorasani was killed in a bomb attack in the Paktika province of. Since then, the TTP has resurfaced in various regions of Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, including North Waziristan, Dir and the Swat Valley. There are reports of army and police officials being captured by TTP militants, and also of provincial ministers paying extortion money to the group.
The sudden surge in the TTP’s militant activities is understandable. If we connect the dots, two major assassinations in a row — of the Al-Qaeda leader and the TTP commander — have seriously upset the Taliban regime. Its apparent relationship with Pakistan is close, but devoid of trust. The reason lies in Pakistan’s betrayal of the Taliban after 9/11, when it decided to join the US-led war on terror. It is likely that Taliban leaders suspect Pakistan of having a role in Al-Zawahiri’s killing.
Pragmatically speaking, renewed counterterrorism cooperation with the US augurs well for Pakistan. The country is in dire need of a revival of the economic bailout program with the International Monetary Fund. It will also need international support to counter the resurgent TTP, especially if the Taliban regime is also seeking to stoke the fires of regional
پاکستان تازہ ترین خبریں, پاکستان عنوانات
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