After the United States of America (USA) withdrew from Afghanistan on August 31, 2021, the power vacuum in this country expanded the scope of action of terrorist organizations. In particular, the fact that the weapons left by the USA and its allies fell into the hands of radical groups has made the regional security environment fragile. One of the countries affected by this process was Pakistan. Because the Islamabad administration is facing attacks that target Chinese investments and Chinese workers through the terrorist organizations used by proxy, especially by the actors who want to destabilize the Belt-Road Project, thus trying to make the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) a viable project. In other words, while terrorism threatens Pakistan’s national security; on the other hand, it sabotages its development and well-being. The main organization that has made a name for itself with its terrorist acts in Pakistan is Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
TTP is a radical organization that claims to establish an “Islamic Emirate” in Afghanistan. TTP, which is known to have close ties with the terrorist organization Al Qaeda, has a Pashtun nationalist structure. Therefore, the organization does not only increase religious radicalization in Pakistan, but also causes the anxiety of division due to ethnic claims.[1] Against this organization, the Government of Pakistan pursues a policy of resolutely fighting terrorism with the claim of ensuring its national security and territorial integrity.
However, the Islamabad administration does not only use military methods in the fight against terrorism. The Government of Pakistan is also open to the option of negotiation, which is one of the counter-terrorism tools.
In this sense, Islamabad is holding talks with the TTP in line with the imagination of a country where there is no conflict and where dialogue is dominant. As a reflection of those talks, a ceasefire agreement was signed in May 2022 between the Pakistani Government and the TTP under the mediation of the Taliban.
Although this agreement kept the weapons silent for a while, the terrorist organization TTP used this process to recruit new personnel and supply weapons, and then announced that it withdrew from the ceasefire agreement in December 2022, thinking it had reached a certain level of power.
In the background of the said decision, the TTP’s pressure from the Pakistani Government to lay down arms, the Pakistan Army’s request to withdraw from the tribal region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad’s rejection of this request, which is a transfer of its sovereign rights, and the terrorist organization’s aforementioned demands for autonomy for the region, but this expectation is not met.
As it can be understood, the views and wishes of the parties to the ceasefire are quite different. While the Government of Pakistan was in favor of establishing a peaceful order, the terrorist organization TTP tried to turn the ceasefire period into an opportunity for field and area dominance. For this reason, since November 2022, the ceasefire has been broken and the TTP’s attacks targeting civilians have come to the agenda of the international public opinion.
Moreover, TTP’s attacks also damaged Pakistan’s foreign policy. Because Islamabad has started to criticize the Taliban for breaking the ceasefire. The fact that the TTP was founded in 2007 by groups that emerged from the Taliban also has an impact on this situation. In this process, with the effect of other conflicts on the Islamabad-Kabil line, the Taliban’s silence about the breaking of the ceasefire caused an increase in tension between the parties. Despite this, a delegation headed by Pakistani Deputy Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar visited Kabul on 30 November 2022 and met with the Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaki.[2]
This visit took place after the TTP attack, in which three Pakistani soldiers were killed in the Ketta region of Pakistan, and in a sense, the Islamabad administration showed that it gave the green light to the re-operation of negotiation, one of the means of fighting terrorism. Therefore, once again, the mediation of the Taliban came to the fore.
As a matter of fact, it was seen that the TTP delegation met with the Taliban officials in Kabul on December 17, 2022,[3] and then on December 20, 2022, Pakistani representatives and TTP officials met in a low-level meeting in Kandahar.[4]
This shows that despite some tensions, including border conflicts on the Taliban-Pakistan line, the parties acted with a reasonable understanding of cooperating at the point of regional security. Therefore, the mediation of the Taliban can both contribute to the establishment of a peaceful order in Pakistan and open the door for the Taliban to overcome the cyclical problems in relations with Islamabad. More importantly, through this mediation process, the Taliban may have the opportunity to convey the message to the world that they are a peaceful actor.
However, the successful conclusion of the negotiation process is not easy at all, despite the efforts of the Taliban. Because TTP is a radical organization and its demands are a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty. Therefore, every scenario where the terrorist organization does not take a step back means a return to the ground of conflict at some point. There was no concrete result from the meeting in Kandadar anyway, and then the Pakistan Army has clearly demonstrated its determination on this issue by accelerating its counter-terrorism operations. On December 23, 2022, the terrorist organization TTP carried out a suicide attack in Islamabad. This shows that reaching a ceasefire is not easy.
At this point, it should be remembered that Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawel Bhutto Zardari’s speech on 21 December 2022 emphasizing the need for cooperation with the Taliban in the fight against TTP.[5] In this sense, Pakistani Foreign Minister reminded the mediating role that the Taliban can play in his country’s fight against terrorism and drew attention to the importance of returning to the negotiating table. Moreover, he made this statement in the USA. This indicates that Islamabad not only shows its support for the role that the Taliban can play in regional peacebuilding, but also indicates that Pakistan can take the initiative to break the prejudiced approach of the West towards the Taliban.
As a result, while Pakistan takes a determined stance in the fight against the TTP, it does not close the door to negotiation processes as a counter-terrorism method. In this context, it is understood that the mediation of the Taliban is important in the negotiations to be carried out with the TTP and the terrorist organization. However, the difference between the expectations of the Pakistani Government and the demands of the terrorist organization TTP reveals the fragility of the process that has begun.
[1] Siddique Kendhaal, “Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan: An Attempt to Deconstruct the Umbrella Organization and the Reasons for its Growth in Pakistan’s North-West.” DIIS Report, http://www.niaslinc.dk/gateway_to_asia/nordic_webpublications/x400193360.pdf, (Date of Accession: 22.12.2022).
[2] “سرپرست وزارت امور خارجه، روابط افغانستان و پاکستان را برای مردم منطقه مفید خواند”, Bakhtarnews, https://l24.im/ST0, (Date of Accession: 22.12.2022).
[3] “Sources: Pakistani Cleric Meets Leaders of TTP in Kabul”, Tolo News, https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-179141, (Date of Accession: 22.12.2022).
[4] “Pakistani Special Forces Free Officers Held by Taliban”, Deutche Welle, https://amp.dw.com/en/pakistani-special-forces-free-officers-held-by-taliban/a-64162405, (Date of Accession: 22.12.2022),
[5] “FM Bilawal Stresses Govt’s Ttp Policy Rethink”, Dunya News, https://dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/682661–FM-Bilawal-stresses-govts-TTP-policy-rethink, (Date of Accession: 22.12.2022).
