The commander of the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Noor Wali Mehsud, has made an effort to dispel the notion that his organization receives any support from the Afghan Taliban government in Kabul by asserting that they are targeting Pakistan from “inside its territory”.
While giving an interview with CNN, he said that we are fighting Pakistan’s war on Pakistani grounds and from within Pakistani territory. “With the weapons and spirit of liberation that exist on Pakistani land, we can fight for many more decades.”
When asked if he was being secretive about the assistance they were receiving from the Taliban, he responded, “What is the sense of hiding it when we don’t need any assistance from the Afghan Taliban?”
Pakistan has pressured the Taliban leadership to act against the perpetrators of the current spike in cross-border assaults from Afghanistan.
Minister of state for foreign affairs Hina Rabbani Khar went to Kabul last month and brought up the matter with Taliban leaders.
Pakistan has been pressuring the Afghan Taliban to honour their pledges to prevent terrorist groups from reuniting and from using its territory as a launching pad for strikes.
The US has also acknowledged Pakistan’s worries and reaffirmed that it would strike if foreign terrorists gathered in Afghanistan.
The TTP head, however, threatened the US with reprisal if the group’s leadership was attacked.
According to CNN, Mehsud said, “America should quit taunting us by interfering in our affairs needlessly at the urging of Pakistan – this harsh move reflects the futility of American politics.”
The likelihood of the US targeting TTP commanders operating out of Afghanistan, such as al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was assassinated in a drone attack in Kabul in September, prompted the query that prompted him to make his comments.
In response to his organization, he claimed that “he did not anticipate America to take such action.” He said, “If America takes such a move, America itself will be accountable for its loss.”
According to him, the US has not yet grasped Pakistan’s “duplicitous policy.”
He said Pakistani soldiers “violated the truce, killed tens of our brothers, and detained tens of them.”
The outlawed group broke the ceasefire last month and ordered its fighters to launch attacks throughout the nation.
The TTP claimed in a statement that security forces had conducted operations against its members in Bannu, Lakki Marwat, and other Khyber Pakhtunkhwa areas.
The TTP attacked a truck near Quetta carrying a police detachment for the protection of polio workers immediately after breaking the ceasefire.
