Splits in the Pakistani Taliban

BY DAUD KHATTAK

OCTOBER 3, 2014 

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The Pakistani Taliban, popularly known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, is struggling to overcome its internal differences and avoid further fragmentation as new groups, who recently emerged in the AfPak region, lure mid-level commanders and foot soldiers into their ranks.

In late August, Omar Khalid Khorasani, a key TTP commander and an erstwhile close aide of Pakistani Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah, declared his own group in the name of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar. In his video message, Khorasani, whose real name is Abdul Wali, introduced Qasim Khorasani as head of his newly-formed group and also presented his group's commanders -- on camera -- for the cities of Peshawar, Swat, and Charsadda, and the tribal districts of Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber, and Orakzai.

Days later, Mullah Fazlullah circulated a two-page statement in Urdu in which he removed Omar Khalid Khorasani from the position of TTP chief in the Mohmand tribal district and ended Khorasani's TTP membership.

A few weeks later, in September, another dramatic announcement came, this time from Asmatullah Muavia, Ameer (chief) of the al Qaeda-linked Punjabi Taliban, who announced an end of militancy inside Pakistan and a shift in focus to neighboring Afghanistan.

Until then, Muavia's Punjabi Taliban was part of the TTP umbrella. However, his unilateral announcement of ceasing armed activities in Pakistan came as another blow to the Fazlullah-led TTP, which is primarily focusing on implementing sharia -- Islamic law -- in Pakistan by waging jihad.

In yet another development in September, a Pashto and Dari language pamphlet was secretly distributed in Pakistan's northern city of Peshawar to incite people to support the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), advocating for the same style of jihad in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The authenticity of the pamphlet, named Fatah, or victory, which brandished a logo of Kalma (Muslims' declaration of faith in one God and the finality of the Prophet Muhammad), a Kalashnikov rifle, and a stamp of the Prophet Muhammad, has yet to be confirmed. However, a well-connected source told this writer that a few former Afghan Taliban leaders have been contacted by ISIS leadership to develop a network in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"There is a degree of discontent both among the Afghan and the Pakistani Taliban leadership about the possible extension of ISIS' activities in the Af-Pak region mainly because this could share out the Taliban human as well as financial resources," the source, who wishes to remain anonymous, told me.

The Afghan and Pakistani Taliban recruit their foot soldiers mostly from the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and depend on charities from people in the Gulf countries, the flourishing narcotics production and business in southern Afghanistan, protection money in Pakistani cities, particularly the country's commercial town of Karachi, and the kidnapping for ransom in the border towns.

When pressed on why the Taliban leadership is so concerned about the possible extension of ISIS into the Af-Pak region, the source told me that theTaliban leadership believes the disgruntled commanders among the Afghan Taliban, also called the Islamic Emirates, and the Pakistani Taliban could join the new front (ISIS).

According to the source, two groups' al Qaeda remnants, who are mostly Arabs, were living in the Waziristan region of Pakistan before the emergence of ISIS in Syria and Iraq. One group was supporting al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's successor,, while the other consisted of the disgruntled elements who were not happy with the new al Qaeda chief.

"With the emergence of ISIS, the disgruntled Arabs rushed back to their ancestral land in Iraq and Syria. It is the same elements who are now contacting their local hosts in Pakistan and Afghanistan to establish an ISIS franchise here," my source disclosed.

When commander Omar Khalid Khorasani announced his separation from the TTP and declared the formation of a separate group in the name of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, many observers believed that he would soon announce his allegiance to the ISIS leadership.

Instead, Khorasani declared his allegiance to the Afghan Taliban's reclusive chief Mullah Muhammad Omar even though Khorasani supports a borderless jihad and believes in the unity of Muslims asummah. In the past, Khorasani had openly declared al Qaeda's founder Osama bin Laden as a hero and his leader.

While Khorasani's separation from Fazlullah-led TTP is a blow to the militant network, his joining hands with ISIS is going to be another strike both for the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban, who will face a rival group to share their human resources.

While there is no solid evidence so far about the presence of the ISIS network in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the arrest of a religious leader Hafiz Abdul Jabbar Shakir by the Pakistani security agencies in the city of Sialkot earlier this year give credence to speculations about the group's activities in Pakistan.

The report in Pakistan's weekly Friday Times magazine suggests that Jabbar Shakir had managed to gather hundreds of followers who wanted to join ISIS. Quoting the so-called ISIS spokesman for Pakistan Asad al-Khorasani, who tweets as @ISIS_Urdu, the report quotes al-Khorasani as saying: "We have differences with the TTP and they keep a distance from us and we do the same."

In the meantime, the separation of Asmatullah Muavia-led Punjabi Taliban from the TTP and the group's refocus on Afghanistan is pointing to an unannounced alliance between the Punjabi Taliban and the Haqqani Network in the post-withdrawal Afghanistan.

The Haqqani Network, as well as the Afghan Taliban, is not in favor of waging armed struggle in Pakistan. In quite contrast, although the TTP leadership, both past and present, expressed allegiance to the Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Omar, they continued militancy in Pakistan.

Since there are visible grievances among the Mehsud Taliban in Pakistan over the issue of TTP leadership, the separation of Omar Khalid Khorasani and Asmatullah Muavia, and the signs of ISIS emergence in the region is going to further weaken the authority of Pakistani Taliban leader Mullah Fazlullah, who is already facing difficulties due to his non-Mehsud status and his sanctuary across the border in Afghanistan. 

Daud Khattak is a Pakistani journalist currently working as a senior editor of Radio Mashaal for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Prague. He has worked with Pakistan's English dailies The News and Daily Times, Afghanistan's Pajhwok Afghan News, and has written for the Christian Science Monitor and London Sunday Times.

The views expressed here are the author's own and do not represent those of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Splits in Pakistani Taliban are not going to save poor Afghanistan. Because Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan is fueled by Pakistani State itself.

Previous US ambassador Anne Patterson to Pakistan wrote in a secret review in 2009 that ‘Pakistan's Army and ISI are covertly SPONSORING four militant groups - Haqqani‘s HQN, Mullah Omar‘s QST (Quetta Shura Taliban), Al Qaeda and LeT - and will not abandon them for any amount of US money‘, diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks show.

Retired Admiral Mike Mullen also told the US Senate Armed Services Committee on 22-Sept-2011 that: ‘The fact remains that the Quetta Shura and the Haqqani Network operate from Pakistan with impunity. (These) Extremist organizations serving as PROXIES of the government of Pakistan are attacking Afghan troops and civilians as well as U.S. soldiers.’

Amb. Patterson had NO reason to mislead her own State Department or US government. Neither did Adm Mullen have any reason to mislead US Senate.

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