Pakistan: resurgence of insecurity and attacks by the Taliban

Pakistani soldiers observe one of the valleys of the Khyber district where many TPP Taliban operate.

AP - Anjum Naveed

Text by: RFI Follow

3 mins

The attack, claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, killed 100 people in a mosque within the Peshawar police headquarters.

For the local police, the attack was committed in retaliation for police operations against armed Islamist groups.

The country is facing an upsurge in insecurity and attacks on police forces.

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About 300 to 400 police were gathered Monday, January 30 at a mosque inside a normally heavily guarded perimeter of Peshawar, when

the explosion occurred

at the time of the noon prayer.

The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, of which Peshawar is the capital, announced that the latest death toll was 100 dead and 221 injured.

According to Interior Minister Ranah Sanaullah, the attack killed 97 policemen and three civilians, and 27 injured are still in critical condition. 

"

This attack, which took place on Monday, is reminiscent of the one that was carried out against a school attended by children of soldiers in

December 2014

, still in Peshawar by the way, and which killed 150 people

", recalls Gilles Boquerat, researcher at the Foundation for Strategic Research, at the microphone of

Heike Schmidt

from the international service. 

For him, this attack was followed by the adoption of a

national action plan

aimed at putting an end to the presence of armed groups on Pakistani soil: " 

We are on the front line 

" in this fight against the armed Islamist movements " 

and that's why we were targeted

 ," Peshawar police chief Muhammad Ijaz Khan told AFP.

The attack on Monday is proof that this plan has failed to achieve its goals: "

Since in November 2022, the Pakistani Taliban movement put an end to the ceasefire which had been decided earlier, it there is an upsurge in attacks against Pakistani police and military forces,

 ”continues Gilles Boquerat.

A soldier and rescue workers at the scene of the suicide attack at a mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan, January 31, 2023. REUTERS - FAYAZ AZIZ

To read also:

The Pakistani Taliban announce the end of a ceasefire never fully respected

The Pakistani Taliban, brothers in arms with the Afghan Taliban

The

Pakistani Taliban

claimed responsibility for the attack.

But what links do they have with the Taliban in Afghanistan?

And do they now have more room for maneuver thanks to the departure of the Americans from Afghanistan?

"

The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the movement of the Pakistani Taliban, which was created in 2007, in opposition to President Musharraf's decision to ally with the United States in the war against terrorism, had been fought by the Pakistani military forces at the cost of many casualties among the Pakistani military.

Pakistan had witnessed a decline in terrorist attacks over the years.

But it is true that since the return of the Taliban to power in Kabul in August 2021, the Pakistani Taliban have experienced a resurgence, supported in part by the Afghan Taliban,

” explains this researcher at the Foundation for Strategic Research. .

The Pakistani and Afghan Taliban rubbed shoulders, were brothers in arms, for years and years, when there was a Western presence in Afghanistan.

The Pakistani Taliban have a number of demands, including reversing the incorporation of tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

So there is a connivance of interests between the Taliban that we see in Kabul and the Pakistani Taliban movement on the idea that this border fixed more than a century ago has no reason to exist.

»

Also to listen: One year after the return of the Taliban, where is Afghanistan?

(

and with

AFP)

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  • Pakistan

  • Taliban

  • Terrorism