How Safe Havens in Afghanistan Are Reshaping the TTP
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan was founded by Baitullah Mehsud in 2007. At first, it was operating based on local strategies such as suicide bombing, kidnappings, and assassinations. But its operational capacity and militants were degraded following the operations conducted by the Pakistan Army. In 2021, following the Doha agreement, NATO forces withdrew from Afghanistan. Under the leadership of Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban occupied the presidential palace. They controlled the whole nation and restored the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan as per their Shariah laws.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), with its close connection to the Afghan Taliban based on the similarity of ideology, has gained in terms of military advantages since the Taliban returned to Afghan soil in August 2021. TTP has been supported by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to secure its leadership, as well as to carry out transnational terrorism. Thus, Afghanistan has become a haven for TTP. These havens are the shelters for TTP; they provide recruitment and training to TTP militants. These safe havens have transformed TTP’s modus operandi from a domestically constrained insurgency to a transnational threat. Afghanistan is no longer serving as strategic depth for Pakistan; rather, it has effectively become a strategic depth or haven for Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
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