Islamabad- Talks between the government of Islamabad and the Pakistani Taliban have revived the controversy again about the differences between the two parties and the nature of the conflict between them, after the statement of the spokesman for the Afghan Taliban movement and the Deputy Minister of Information and Culture there, Zabihullah Mujahid, last Sunday, that these talks had concluded in Kabul two days ago.

While the Pakistani government has not issued any statements about these talks, the local newspaper “The Tribune” reported – quoting well-informed officials in Islamabad – that the talks between their government and the Pakistani Taliban have not ended yet; Because the two sides did not reach common ground on major issues. The newspaper pointed out that Pakistan’s National Security Council is discussing the progress of the talks.

This comes in light of a wide disagreement between the political elites and decision-making circles in Pakistan over talks with the Taliban (their country’s branch), as some political parties demand that decisions related to combating terrorism be passed through Parliament. At a time when some of the movement’s demands, such as the geographical divisions of some regions, raised questions about the nature of the conflict between it and the government.

founding roots

The Pakistani Taliban, which is locally called “Tahrik Taliban Pakistan”, or what is known for its acronym “TTP”, is the largest armed movements and groups against the Pakistani state, after it carried out the most violent and bloody attacks in the country’s history, most notably the attack on An army school in Peshawar in 2014, a large number of students and teachers were killed.

Its rise began with the transformation of Afghan Taliban supporters and sympathizers into a dominant force in the FATA, when several small militant groups operating independently in the region began to communicate with each other.

With this, the Taliban became a conglomerate of more than 40 Islamic factions along with fighters from the Pashtun tribes in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan and the northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Pakistani Taliban, according to the Stanford Center on International Security and Cooperation, is characterized by an ethnic diversity of militants from Arabs, Uzbeks, Afghans, Chechens and Punjabis, in addition to the majority of Pashtuns.

The official launch of the Pakistani Taliban in its current form in 2007, at the hands of its first founder Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan (Northwest), to draw the features of a new conflict in Pakistan, especially in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

The roots of the conflict with Pakistan

In 2001 during the US invasion of Afghanistan, and before the official formation of the Pakistani Taliban, many armed groups – which are now part of the movement – operated independently in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and most of these operations were in support of the Afghan Taliban.

In 2002, with the entry of Pakistani forces into the tribal areas to curb armed groups fleeing Afghanistan, as part of what was described as “joint efforts with the United States to combat terrorism”, these forces became part of the targeting circle for fighters in those areas.

But the real turn in the conflict, which resulted in the official announcement of the formation of the Pakistani Taliban, was caused by the events of the Red Mosque “Lal Mosque” in Islamabad in July 2007.

At that time, the mosque witnessed clashes between the Pakistani security forces and dozens of supporters of the Islamic groups who barricaded themselves in it, before these forces stormed the mosque and the operation ended with the killing of the leader holed up inside it, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, and about 56 of his companions and the surrender of the rest.

According to former diplomat and head of the Islamabad Center for Political Studies, Javed Hafeez, the events at the Red Mosque were “the straw that broke the camel’s back”, which resulted in the formation of the Pakistani Taliban and launching large-scale attacks against Pakistani forces.

Ironically, the Pakistani government initially recognized the Taliban but re-banned it in August 2008, freezing all accounts and associated assets, and setting up bounties for the capture of its prominent leaders, according to the Stanford Center.

A delegation comprising Pakistani scholars headed by Maulana Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani, may God protect him, will meet with the leadership of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in Kabul

This comes within Pakistani efforts with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and the Taliban’s mobilization to stop the conflict between the two sides forever

– Huzaifah Farid Huzaifah Farid (@PM_Huzaifah) June 21, 2022

Strong ties with the Afghan Taliban

The armed groups that were the core of the Pakistani movement supported the Afghan Taliban’s fight against coalition operations in Afghanistan by providing fighters and logistical support.

According to the Stanford Center, in late 2008 and early 2009, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar, led by the Pakistani Taliban, met and agreed to fight the US-led coalition. In 2009, the Pakistani Taliban launched an attack on a US base in Afghanistan.

Political analyst Tahir Khan says that the Pakistani Taliban considers the leader of the Afghan Taliban movement as its emir and has shown loyalty to him. The Afghan Taliban’s interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani, said publicly in Kabul on June 1 that they had both fought against foreign forces. He added – in an interview with Al Jazeera Net – that the Pakistani Taliban leaders are treated as guests in Afghanistan.

The expert on Islamic movements, Saifullah Khalid, says that the Pakistani movement is not directly under the leadership of the Afghan Taliban, but it can be said that they are allies and have strong relations, and this gives the Afghan Taliban the ability to put pressure on them.

In addition, the Afghan Taliban’s control of the government in Kabul has sparked controversy over its influence on the Pakistani movement. In this, Tahir Khan says that the Taliban’s control of the government in Afghanistan constituted a motivating factor for the Pakistani Taliban, and their movements became easy between Pakistan and Afghanistan, without fear of US aircraft strikes.

This is supported by Javed Hafeez, who said that the Doha agreement (between the Afghan Taliban and the United States) in 2020, encouraged the Afghan and Pakistani movements.

Ideological roots backed by ethnocentrism

Former diplomat Javed Hafeez believes that the conflict with the Pakistani government is based on ideological (ideological) and ethnic bases, and he says – in his talk to Al Jazeera Net – “If we look at the roots of the Pakistani Taliban, they are the second generation of religious school fighters who started working during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.” .

But over time, Hafeez says, the conflict became ethnic and tribal, because the majority of the movement’s members and fighters are Pashtuns in the tribal area, and because the conflict then took place to expel Pakistani forces from this region.

While Tahir Khan says that despite the background of the Pashtun ethnic group, they can be considered a single ideological entity. Since most of the Pakistani Taliban fighters belong to the tribal areas, they are trying to exploit the situation and win the sympathy of people who do not favor the integration of the tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, claiming that the integration was against self-rule.

While Saifullah Khalid sees another facet of this conflict, and he says – in an interview with Al Jazeera Net – that the conflict in its beginning was ideological based on the religious sympathy of the tribesmen with the Afghan Taliban, and what increased sympathy with them and not with the Pakistani army, Pervez Musharraf’s government took measures against Supporters of the Afghan Taliban.

With the withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan, Khaled says, “the ideological reason that was just an excuse has faded” and the conflict is now a case of “war economy” and somewhat of a “war of revenge.”