Islamabad [Pakistan]: The United Nations monitoring report have highlighted that the banned militant group Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is now the largest terrorist group in Afghanistan, enjoying operational and logistical support from both the Afghan Taliban and factions of the Al Qaeda terrorist network, reported Dawn.
The 15th report of the ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaeda/Taliban Monitoring Team was submitted to the UN Security Council.
“The Taliban do not conceive of TTP as a terrorist group: the bonds are close, and the debt owed to TTP significant,” the report stated.
The report further noted that it has an estimated strength of around 6000-6500 fighters, adding that the TTP is now the largest among the two dozen or so such groups that enjoy freedom to manoeuvre, under the oversight of the Taliban regime, as reported by Dawn.
This lends credence to Islamabad’s stance that Kabul is unwilling to act against Pakistan-facing terrorist groups, something officials such as Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi have reiterated time and again.
The report further stressed that TTP “continues to operate at a significant scale in Afghanistan and to conduct terrorist operations into Pakistan from there, often utilising Afghans.”
“TTP has intensified attacks against Pakistan, significantly increasing from 573 in 2021 to 715 in 2022 and 1,210 in 2023, with the trend continuing into 2024,” the report, updated until May 28, stated, according to Dawn.
Moreover, this lines up with Islamabad’s claims of the involvement of Afghan nationals in a number of recent terrorist attacks, including the Bisham bombing, claiming the lives of five Chinese engineers and their Pakistani driver.
Notably, the UN report mentioned this particular incident.
Further, it backs Pakistan’s worry that NATO-calibre weapons, especially night vision capability, have been provided to TTP since the Taliban takeover, adding lethality to terrorist attacks against Pakistani border posts, Dawn reported.