DURING a discussion in the Security Council on Wednesday, Pakistani Ambassador to the UN Munir Akram rightly observed that, left unchecked, the banned TTP could become “a global terrorist threat”. Considering the TTP’s links with Al Qaeda, and its blood-soaked campaign inside Pakistan, the world should be concerned about the group’s activities. Mr Akram added that it needed to be probed how the TTP could secure high-grade weapons, and from where it acquired its funds. He also asked the UNSC to endorse Pakistan’s demand that the Afghan Taliban cut their ties with the TTP. This demand is not new; Islamabad has publicly and privately, in subtle as well as stronger language, called upon Kabul to rein in the TTP. Pakistan’s calls have been met with a mixed response: there has been little action by the Afghan Taliban, though they have claimed they will not let their soil be used by anti-Pakistan militants. There are reports they have imprisoned some TTP fighters and shifted them away from the Pakistan border. But the attacks have not stopped.

What is needed from Kabul are solid steps, not half measures. Clamping down on the TTP, and then allowing them to wreak havoc in Pakistan will not work. At the UNSC meeting, Roza Otunbayeva, the secretary general’s special representative on Afghanistan, appeared to endorse Pakistan’s position, observing that “there are well-founded concerns over the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan”, while mentioning the TTP by name. Pakistan’s new government should implement a dual-track policy to neutralise the TTP threat. Firstly, it must keep channels with the Afghan Taliban open and continue to communicate its concerns about terrorist activity originating in Afghanistan. Secondly, Pakistan should cooperate with other states at the UN as well as regional blocs, such as the SCO, to make it clear to Kabul that hosting militants will end any chance of wider acceptance of the Afghan Taliban regime by the international community.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2024