NEW DELHI: When the Taliban stormed to power in Afghanistan in the fall of 2021, cheers erupted in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
Pakistan believed it had pulled off a major strategic coup and Afghanistan’s new rulers could be manipulated to protect its interests.
More than a year later, however, the script hasn’t gone quite as Pakistan had hoped.
The regime in Kabul has turned a deaf ear to Pakistan’s demands to crack down on Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) sanctuaries in Afghanistan.
The result: Pakistan’s internal security is in turmoil, and a resurgent TTP is conducting attacks with impunity.
Less than two months into 2023, terrorist incidents have already claimed 227 lives.
Pakistan’s veiled approach to dealing with TTP
Pakistani forces were able to effectively dismantle the TTP and kill most of their top leadership in a series of military operations in the tribal areas beginning in 2014, driving most of the fighters into Afghanistan where they regrouped.
They were spurred on by the Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan over the US-backed government after Western forces left the country in 2021.
A Pakistani minister said Sunday that former ISI chief Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed wanted to bring the banned members of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) back into the country but his plan “failed”.
Human Rights Minister Riaz Pirzada claimed that a briefing was held behind the camera at which army generals proposed “relocating” TTP members in Pakistan.
A minister in the now ousted Imran Khan government also claimed that they had tried to build a consensus to start a dialogue with the TTP but that had failed.
A truce and its dissolution
In June last year, the Pakistani government reached a comprehensive ceasefire agreement with the TTP.
By November, however, it had gone up in smoke. As TTP renewed its attacks, many targeting government officials and security forces, there were talks of recalibrating the approach.
With the regime in Kabul unwilling to take action against its brethren, Pakistan has sought to open a channel with the Taliban supreme leader.
The volatile political atmosphere, the economic crisis, tense relations with neighboring countries and a frightening internal security scenario – the Shehbaz Sharif government has too much to do for the time being.
There is little sign of a return to stability in Pakistan as the country heads into the next general election later this year.
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