The Taliban Revival by Hassan Abbas
Author:Hassan Abbas
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780300178845
Publisher: Yale University Press
The deadly rise of the Pakistani Taliban
The emergence of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in December 2007 was a deadly new addition to the alphabet soup of terrorist organizations in Pakistan. There was a discernible increase in the number of attacks on military convoys, and an upsurge in the targeting both of government infrastructure and the civilian population. All this violence and coercion compelled adjustment to the new reality – the rise of militants and the downfall of the tribal maliks.
It is still hotly debated in Pakistan whether the Pakistani Taliban were a natural corollary of the Afghan Taliban, or whether the 9/11 attacks and the consequent military action in Afghanistan led to their creation. Retired Pakistani Brigadier Asad Munir, who served as ISI chief in Peshawar during 1999–2003, insightfully argues that ‘even if there had been no 9/11, the Pakistani Taliban who had been in existence since 1998–99 would have expanded their presence and operations in the FATA area; but it would have been a slow process’.20 Much had already transpired in the region to stimulate the birth of such groups.
The organizational skills, leadership quality and resourcefulness of the Pakistani militants operating in the tribal territories, however, improved in the years following 9/11, thanks to the influx of Taliban fighters and Al-Qaeda strategists from Afghanistan. Hot conflict zones in FATA and flow of funds from a variety of sources also contributed to this. Still, they were lacking a unifying platform right up until the dying days of 2007.
In the period since 9/11, many small militant groups that operated independently in FATA worked together whenever their political and security interests converged, but intertribal rivalries ensured that they never merged. In the turbulent Waziristan area, the traditional Waziri–Mehsud rivalry never subsided, but in the face of a growing military presence they decided to pool their resources and band together.
Forty notorious militant leaders, representing both FATA and parts of the NWFP, met around mid-December 2007 to establish the TTP as an umbrella organization. Baitullah Mehsud of South Waziristan became the top commander; Hafiz Gul Bahadur of the Wazir tribe (North Waziristan) was his deputy; and Faqir Mohammed of the Mohmand tribe (Bajaur agency) became the third in command.21 Mullah Fazlullah (of Swat fame) was also given a largely symbolic position as secretary general, in order to project support for the ongoing Swat militancy. The TTP mission statement was brief, but in scope was both extensive and idealistic:
a) Enforce Islamic law – a demand without which they could not claim to be ‘Taliban’. They never clearly defined the term – partly in order to attract all religious groups, but also because they lacked the religious credentials even to attempt it. As later events suggest, for the TTP this served as a rhetorical call rather than a declaration about their organizing principle.
b) Unite against NATO forces in Afghanistan and wage a defensive Jihad against Pakistani forces – a call that clarified the main purpose of the organization. Fighting an outside force was nothing unusual for
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