Pakistani Taliban facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan |
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| تحریک طالبان پاکستان Pakistani Taliban Movement Participant in Global War on Terrorism, Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) |
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 .png){kind=logo} Top Left: Current Logo of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (2024–present) Top Right: Former Logo of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (2020–2024) Bottom Center: Former Logo of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (2018–2020)   Top: Current Flag of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (2018–present) Bottom: Former Flag of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (Until 2018) |
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| Active | December 2007 – present |
| Ideology | Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism Pashtunwali Sectarianism Separatism |
| Motives | Fundamentalism Pashtunwali Deobandi Sectarianism Separatism |
| Allegiance |  Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (self-declared, publicly rejected by IEA) |
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| Headquarters | Eastern Afghanistan |
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| Designated as a terrorist organisation by | |
 Argentina Bahrain Canada Pakistan Japan New Zealand United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States United Nations |
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The Pakistani Taliban (Urdu: پاکستانی طالبان), formally called the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan (تحریکِ طالبان پاکستان, lit. Pakistani Taliban Movement, abbr. TTP), is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan–Pakistani border. Formed in 2007 by Baitullah Mehsud, its current leader is Noor Wali Mehsud, who has publicly pledged allegiance to the Afghan Taliban (a.k.a. Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan). The Pakistani Taliban share a common ideology with the Afghan Taliban and have assisted them in the 2001–2021 war, but the two groups have separate operation and command structures.
Most Taliban groups in Pakistan coalesce under the TTP. Among the stated objectives of TTP is resistance against the Pakistani state. The TTP's aim is to overthrow the government of Pakistan by waging a terrorist campaign against the Pakistan armed forces and the state. The TTP depends on the tribal belt along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border, from which it draws its recruits. The TTP receives ideological guidance from and maintains ties with al-Qaeda. After the Pakistani military operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, some of the TTP militants escaped from Pakistan to Afghanistan, where some of them joined Islamic State – Khorasan Province, while others remained part of the TTP. As of 2019[update], there are around 3,000 to 4,000 TTP militants in Afghanistan, according to a United States Department of Defense report. Between July and November 2020, the Amjad Farouqi group, one faction of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, the Musa Shaheed Karwan group, Mehsud factions of the TTP, Mohmand Taliban, Bajaur Taliban, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, and Hizb-ul-Ahrar merged with TTP. This reorganization made TTP more deadly and led to increased attacks.
In 2020, after years of factionalism and infighting, the TTP under the leadership of Noor Wali Mehsud underwent reorganization and reunification. Mehsud has essentially steered the TTP in a new direction, sparing civilians and ordering assaults only on security and law enforcement personnel, in an attempt to rehabilitate the group's image and distance them from the Islamic State militant group's extremism.
After the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, Pakistan was unable to persuade the Afghan Taliban to crack down on the TTP. The Afghan Taliban instead mediated talks between Pakistan and the TTP, leading to the release of dozens of TTP prisoners in Pakistan and a temporary ceasefire between the Pakistani government and the TTP. After the ceasefire expired on 10 December 2021, the TTP increased attacks on Pakistani security forces from sanctuaries inside Afghanistan. The Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan's Khost and Kunar provinces on 16 April 2022 appeared to have been conducted in retaliation to the surge in terror attacks in Pakistan.
Designation as a terrorist organization
On 1 September 2010, the United States designated the TTP as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and identified Hakimullah Mehsud and Wali ur-Rehman as specially designated global terrorists. The designation of the TTP as an FTO makes it a crime to provide support or to do business with the group and also allows the U.S. to freeze its assets. The US State Department also issued a $5 million reward for information on the two individuals' locations.
In January 2011, the British government moved to classify the TTP as a banned terrorist organization under its Terrorism Act 2000.
In July 2011, the Canadian government also added the TTP to its list of banned terrorist organizations.
Organizational structure
The TTP differs in structure to the Afghan Taliban in that it lacks a central command and is a much looser coalition of various militant groups, united by hostility towards the central government in Islamabad. Several analysts describe the TTP's structure as a loose network of dispersed constituent groups that vary in size and in levels of coordination. The various factions of the TTP tend to be limited to their local areas of influence and often lack the ability to expand their operations beyond that territory.
In its original form, the TTP had Baitullah Mehsud as its amir. He was followed in the leadership hierarchy by Hafiz Gul Bahadur as naib amir, or deputy. Faqir Mohammed was the third most influential leader. The group contained members from all of FATA's seven tribal agencies as well as several districts of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), including Swat, Bannu, Tank, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan, Kohistan, Buner, and Malakand. Some 2008 estimates placed the total number of operatives at 30–35,000, although it is difficult to judge the reliability of such estimates.
Current leaders
- Noor Wali Mehsud (alias Abu Mansoor Asim) – Emir (chief) of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan.
- Muzahim (alias Mufti Hazrat) – Naib emir (deputy chief) of TTP.
- Hafiz Gul Bahadur – Powerful faction in North Waziristan.
- Aleem Khan Khushali – Faction active in North Waziristan.
- Muhammad Khurasani – Central spokesman of TTP.
