ISLAMABAD:
The latest call by the ameer of the Afghan Taliban Mullah Mohammad Omar
to the Pakistani Taliban to end their infighting in South Waziristan is
actually aimed at securing their support against foreign troops in
Afghanistan to launch the annual spring offensive with full force which
is about to begin with the end of the winter season.
As
bloody clashes intensify between two major factions of the
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan led by Khalid Mehsud alias Said Khan Sajna and
Sheharyar Mehsud alias Shahbaz to capture the command of the Taliban in
South Waziristan, Mullah Omar has appealed to the militants in a
pamphlet [written in Pashto and distributed in the Miramshah area of
North Waziristan on April 14] to work out their differences and end
their internal strife.
It is for the first time that such a
pamphlet has been distributed in Pakistan on behalf of Mullah Omar who
is the supreme leader of both the Afghan and the Pakistani Taliban.
The
pamphlet states that all the Muslims and particularly the Mujahideen
are informed about the serious differences and clashes between two
Mehsud Mujahideen groups. Mentioning verses from the Holy Quran, Mullah
Omar has been quoted in the pamphlet as asking the people to recite it
100 times a day so that the hostilities between the warring militant
groups of Mehsud tribe could come to an end.
According to
well-informed diplomatic circles in Islamabad, the ameer of the Afghan
Taliban’s call to the Pakistani Taliban for a truce between the two key
warring factions has confirmed earlier reports that Mullah Omar had used
his influence to persuade the TTP ameer Mullah Fazlullah for initiating
peace talks with the Pakistan government primarily to prevent a
Pakistani military action in Waziristan before the withdrawal of the
US-led Allied Forces from
Afghanistan. The ameer of the
Afghan Taliban was of the view that instead of wasting their energies in
battling with Pakistan Army, the Taliban on both sides of the
Pak-Afghan border should prepare themselves for a decisive battle in
Afghanistan after the American withdrawal for the revival of the Taliban
Emirates of Afghanistan.
Mullah Omar had been influencing
the Pakistani Taliban in the past as well by using his influence with
TTP leadership to help broker numerous peace deals with the Taliban in
the tribal belt. The authority of Mullah Omar, who has been in hiding
ever since the fall of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001,
extends beyond the Pak-Afghan border as the Pakistani Taliban also
recognize him as their supreme leader, being their Ameerul Momineen,
just like the Afghan Taliban. Therefore, Mullah Omar’s anguish over
TTP’s infighting is but natural which has forced him to ask the
Pakistani Taliban to end their infighting in South Waziristan. The TTP
leadership also realises the fact that the current infighting was
weakening their position with every passing day at a time when they are
holding talks with the Pakistan government being the representative of
the Pakistani Taliban.
Diplomatic circles in Islamabad
believe that the TTP’s ongoing talks with the PML-N government were a
tactical ploy to ensure a short-term truce which would be used to
whole-heartedly support the Afghan Taliban in their upcoming spring
offensive against the US-led allied forces stationed in Afghanistan. A
spring offensive is launched every year by the Afghan Taliban after the
winter season is over. In fact, due to harsh weather conditions, the
Taliban slowdown their military activities and resume it as the spring
approaches and the weather conditions improve. As yet another spring
approaches, another offensive is being planned. But the Afghan Taliban
believe that unlike in the previous spring offensives since they were
booted out of power from Afghanistan, they are better placed than
before, especially when the US-led coalition forces are scheduled to
withdraw from Afghanistan by 2014.
The Taliban insurgents
in Afghanistan, led by Mullah Omar, are still a strong force and are
openly mocking the Nato and Isaf troops by saying that they are fleeing
their country in disgrace and humiliation. To recall, the TTP had struck
a clandestine peace deal with the Pakistani establishment in January
2013, before the start of the spring offensive that year, as per which
the Taliban had agreed that they won’t attack the Pakistani security
forces in the Fata. The deal was motivated by Mullah Omar who wanted to
unite all the Taliban groups in Waziristan on a single platform to
reorient the direction of their battle away from Pakistan and towards
the allied forces in Afghanistan.
Subsequently, the
Shura-e-Muraqaba, an anti-US war body consisting of five key
al-Qaeda-linked Afghan Taliban groups, was launched. The five members of
the Shura included the Afghan Taliban led by Mullah Mohammad Omar, the
Haqqani Militant Network led by Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Tehrik-e-Taliban
led by Hakimullah Mehsud and two more groups of militants led by the
South Waziristan-based Maulvi Nazir and the North Waziristan-based Hafiz
Gul Bahadar. The TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan had made public the
formation of the Shura through a press release, saying all the militant
groups have reposed their confidence in Mullah Omar’s leadership and
accepted him as the consensus leader of Afghanistan. He had added that
the unity among the militants came after a call by Mullah Omar, telling
the Pakistani Taliban to stop fighting at home to join the battle to
liberate Afghanistan.
Ehsanullah had said the TTP would
send its fighters to Afghanistan after March for waging jehad against
the US-led “infidel” forces.
“Convey my message to the
Pakistani Taliban that you have forgotten the real purpose, which is to
fight the US-led invading forces in Afghanistan and liberate it from
their occupation. Forget all your differences and give us fighters to
boost the battle against America in Afghanistan”, a reported statement
by Mullah Omar had cautioned the TTP leadership at that time.
However,
what remained hidden was finally made public by Commander Sirajuddin
Haqqani, the chief operational commander of the Haqqani network who
conceded the existence of a peace deal with the Pakistani security
establishment as per which the Pakistan Taliban, Afghan Taliban, Haqqani
network and Maulvi Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadur groups won’t attack the
Pakistani troops and instead they would focus their attention on the
Allied Forces. The revelation came in a statement by Sirajuddin Haqqani,
directing the Pakistani Taliban to stop attacking the Pakistani
security forces in accordance with a peace deal, thus giving credence to
media reports that the militants and the military have struck a
clandestine ceasefire. Sirajuddin had issued these directives as the
ameer of the Shura-e-Muraqaba.
Shortly afterwards, the
spring offensive was launched with multiple attacks targeting Western
embassies, the Nato force’s headquarters as well as the parliament
building in Kabul. As the spring of 2014 has almost approached, the TTP
is already busy holding talks with the Pakistan government amid reports
that the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan have secretly agreed to
focus on carrying out operations in Afghanistan, with Pakistani
militants announcing a ceasefire with their government in order to
preserve militant bases used to stage cross-border attacks. An Afghan
military commander Major General Sharif Yaftali has already blamed
Pakistan on April 12 for exporting terrorism to Afghanistan.
The
current level of relationship between the Pakistani Taliban and the
Afghan Taliban was well-described by TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid on
October 6, 2013 in these words: “The Afghan Taliban not only
financially support the Pakistani Taliban in their war with Islamabad
but they also provide them sanctuary in Afghanistan. The Afghan Taliban
are our jehadi brothers. In the beginning, we were helping them. But now
they are strong enough to support us financially”, said Shahidullah
Shahid while conceding that Mullah Fazlullah is being given shelter in
Kunar province by the Afghan Taliban.
