After US withdrawal, terror in Afghanistan-Pakistan return as bigger 'threat'
After the US withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan last year, the country is holding a dangerous position of being the "world's premier terrorist hub", as Islamist terrorism finds shelter in the country and poses threat to its neighbouring nations including Pakistan, China and Iran.
According to Islam Khabar, the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan has consolidated this position with the Al Qaida staging a comeback and the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) confronting the Taliban, even as the latter cushion the defiance of Pakistani security by the latter's domestic Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The circle of terror gets complete with the consolidation of the older groups Pakistan has nurtured - banned officially but burgeoning - the Lashkar-e-Toyaba (LeT) and Jaish -e-Muhammad (JeM), to name only the biggies.
This is evident in the spurt of violence in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, with its spill-over effect and concern in Iran, China and Central Asia.
Blast in a mosque in Shia-majority Herat last November has worried Iran. China is concerned that its Uyghur rebels from Xinjiang continue to be present in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region's ungovernable areas, Islam Khabar reported.
As per reports, Pakistan's case is worse with the TTP spreading its violence well out of the tribal FATA region and establishing its footprint from Karachi to Lahore and even in Islamabad, the national capital.
Islam Khabar reported that the arrests of TTP cadres in Punjab, northern Sindh and parts of Balochistan indicate a lateral spread that is unprecedented.
Policemen and police stations are being attacked to cause "fear" among the law-keepers.
Qouting Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police Chief Moazzam Jah Ansari, Islam Khabar reported that vthe IS-K poses "a greater threat to peace and security in KP than does Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which claimed responsibility for the attack on policemen in Islamabad January 17 night.
Security analysts see a measure of coordination, but also overlapping in what seems turf war among various Islamist groups. This only complicates the task of the government that is desperately seeking to extend the olive branch and strike "peace" deals.
Last year in December, the TTP ended a ceasefire reportedly brokered by the Taliban who are otherwise unwilling to physically evict the TTP, their ideological brother. Now, the Pakistan Government has reportedly enrolled a tribal Jirga to broker another deal.
The developing situation has got the all-powerful Pakistan Army worried because what the men in uniform gain gets wasted by the civilian leadership, Islam Khabar reported.
According to a Pakistani senior defence official, Taliban and the TTP are "two sides of the same coin".
(ANI)
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