After Afghan Taliban’s victory, a quiet warning is circulating: Pakistan Taliban are returning

In this Aug. 5, 2012 file photo, Pakistani Taliban patrol in then their stronghold of Shawal in Pakistani tribal region of South Waziristan. The Taliban win in Afghanistan is giving a boost to militants in neighboring Pakistan. (AP/ File Photo)
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Updated 18 October 2021
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After Afghan Taliban’s victory, a quiet warning is circulating: Pakistan Taliban are returning

  • Pakistan Taliban have ramped up attacks in recent months, more than 300 Pakistanis killed in attacks since January
  • Local contractors report Taliban-imposed surcharges on every contract and the killing of those who defy them

PESHAWAR: In Pakistan’s rugged tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan, a quiet and persistent warning is circulating: The Taliban are returning.
Pakistan’s own Taliban movement, which had in years past waged a violent campaign against the Islamabad government, has been emboldened by the return to power of the Taliban in Afghanistan, experts say, which is also visible from an increase in attacks by the group in Pakistan.
More than 300 Pakistanis have been killed in attacks since January, including 144 military personnel, according to the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.
The Pakistani Taliban seem to be preparing to retake control of the tribal regions that they lost nearly seven years ago in a major operation by Pakistan’s military, analysts and security officials say.




In this Aug. 19, 2021 file photo, Taliban fighters display their flag on patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP)

Now, they are working to increase their influence. Local contractors report Taliban-imposed surcharges on every contract and the killing of those who defy them.
In early September, for example, a contractor named Noor Islam Dawar built a small canal not far from the town of Mir Ali near the Afghan border. It wasn’t worth more than $5,000. Still, the Taliban came calling, demanding their share of $1,100. Dawar had nothing to give and pleaded for their understanding, according to relatives and local activists. A week later he was dead, shot by unknown gunmen. His family blames the Taliban.
Pakistan’s Taliban, known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban or TTP, is a separate organization from Afghanistan’s Taliban, though they share much of the same hard-line ideology. The TTP arose in the early 2000s and launched a campaign of bombings and other attacks, vowing to bring down the Pakistani government and seizing control in many tribal areas. The military crackdown of the 2010s managed to repress it.
But the TTP was reorganizing in safe havens in Afghanistan even before the Afghan Taliban took over Kabul on Aug. 15.
“The Afghan Taliban’s stunning success in defeating the American superpower has emboldened the Pakistani Taliban...They now seem to believe they too can wage a successful jihad against the Pakistani ‘infidel’ state and have returned to insurgency mode,” said Brian Glyn Williams, Islamic history professor at the University of Massachusetts, who has written extensively on radical movements.
The events in Afghanistan have also energized the scores of radical religious parties in Pakistan, said Amir Rana, executive director of the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies.
These parties openly revile minority Muslims as heretics and on occasion bring thousands on to the street to defend their hard-line interpretation of Islam. One party, the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, has a single agenda: to protect a controversial blasphemy law. The law has been used against minorities and opponents and can incite mobs to kill simply over an accusation of insulting Islam.
Already buffeted by a growing religiosity, Pakistani society is at risk of transforming into one similar to Taliban-run Afghanistan, Rana warned.
A Gallup Pakistan poll released last week found 55 percent of Pakistanis would support an “Islamic government” like the one advocated by Afghanistan’s Taliban. Gallup surveyed 2,170 Pakistanis soon after the Taliban takeover in Kabul.
Pakistan has shied away from offering unilateral recognition to the all-Taliban government in Afghanistan, but has been pushing for the world to engage with the new rulers. It has urged the United States to release funds to the Afghan government, while urging the Taliban to open their ranks to minorities and non-Taliban.




 In this Aug. 3, 2021 file photo, Pakistan Army troops observe the area from hilltop post on the Pakistan Afghanistan, in Khyber district, Pakistan.The Taliban win in Afghanistan is giving a boost to militants in neighboring Pakistan. (AP)

Pakistan’s relationship with the Afghan Taliban is a constant source of angst in America, where Republican senators have introduced a law that would sanction Islamabad for allegedly working against the US to bring the Taliban to power. The charge has angered Pakistan, whose leaders say it was asked and delivered the Taliban to the negotiation table with the US, which eventually led to an agreement paving the way for America’s final withdrawal.
Pakistan’s ties to many of the Afghan Taliban are believed to go back to the 1980s when Pakistan was the staging arena for a US-backed fight against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. In particular, the Haqqani group, possibly Afghanistan’s most powerful Taliban faction, has a long relationship with Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI. Pakistan denies this.
Pakistan has turned to Sirajuddin Haqqani, the interior minister in Afghanistan’s new Taliban government, for help in starting talks with the Pakistani Taliban, said Asfandyar Mir, a senior expert at the US Institute of Peace.
Some TTP figures in North Waziristan — a rugged area the group once controlled — are ready to negotiate. But the most violent factions, led by Noor Wali Mehsud, are not interested in talks. Mehsud’s Taliban want control of South Waziristan, said Mir.
It’s not clear whether Haqqani will be able to get Mehsud to the table or whether Afghanistan’s new rulers are ready to break their close ties with Pakistan’s Taliban.
In the attempts to put together negotiations with Islamabad, the TTP is demanding control over parts of the tribal regions and rule by its strict interpretation of Islamic Shariah law in those areas, as well as the right to keep their weapons, according to two Pakistani figures familiar with the demands. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media and because they fear retaliation.
Bill Roggio of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a US-based think tank, said Pakistan is opening talks with the Taliban to stop the increasing attacks on its military, but he warned that “the government is opening Pandora’s box.”
“The TTP will not be satisfied with ruling a small portion of Pakistan, it will inevitably want more than what it is given,” Roggio said. “Like the Afghan Taliban wanted to rule Afghanistan, the TTP wants to rule Pakistan.”


Pakistan to launch direct flights to Azerbaijan on April 20 as bilateral ties grow

Updated 17 min 45 sec ago
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Pakistan to launch direct flights to Azerbaijan on April 20 as bilateral ties grow

  • The announcement comes after PIA reported operational and net profits for the first time in 21 years
  • Pakistan and Azerbaijan have vowed to deepen strategic cooperation in trade, energy and defense

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s national flag carrier on Sunday announced it will begin direct flights to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, from April 20, as the two countries move to deepen strategic cooperation across trade, energy, defense and regional connectivity.
Pakistan and Azerbaijan have been stepping up bilateral collaboration, with Islamabad offering Baku and other Central Asian states access to its Gwadar and Karachi ports.
In return, Azerbaijan committed to a $2 billion investment in Pakistan’s mining, energy and infrastructure sectors during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Baku in February.
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) announced the new service at a special ceremony in Karachi held in honor of travel agents and tour operators, who were briefed on the new route.
“PIA will operate two weekly flights from Lahore,” the airline said in a statement after the gathering, adding that “flights to Baku will depart on Sundays and Wednesdays.”
PIA said the direct connection to Azerbaijan would help boost two-way tourism and commercial ties, adding it was committed to ensuring the viability of the Baku route and strengthening its presence in the Central Asian market.
The Pakistani national airline, which has long struggled financially, surprised observers earlier this month by posting an operational profit of $33.48 million and a net profit of $94.32 million in the last fiscal year.
This was the first time in 21 years the airline has made these profits.
The launch of the Baku route is expected to support the carrier’s business further as the government pushes ahead with plans to privatize it under a $7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) program aimed at reforming state-owned enterprises and stabilizing the economy.


Pakistan’s interior minister, US congressional delegation discuss counterterror cooperation, bilateral investment 

Updated 13 April 2025
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Pakistan’s interior minister, US congressional delegation discuss counterterror cooperation, bilateral investment 

  • Mohsin Naqvi says “terrorism” is a global challenge, urges international community to cooperate with Pakistan 
  • As Pakistan grapples with militancy, Islamabad and Washington will hold a counterterrorism dialogue in June

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi held talks on counterterrorism cooperation and bilateral investment with a United States (US) congressional delegation in Islamabad on Sunday, as both countries attempt to forge closer ties to battle surging regional militancy. 

Military cooperation between Pakistan and the US spans over six decades, but it underwent a tactical renaissance since the militant attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. 

During the US ‘War on Terror’ against the Taliban in Afghanistan, US-Pakistan relations were largely prompted by Washington’s short-term need for Islamabad’s cooperation to serve its security and strategic interests in Kabul. 

A US congressional delegation in Pakistan comprising congressmen Jack Bergman, Tom Suozzi and Jonathan Jackson called on the Pakistani interior minister in Islamabad. Pakistan’s Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudry, Acting US Ambassador Natalie Baker and Federal Interior Secretary Khurram Agha were also present. 

“Discussions on advancing cooperation in the fields of economy, trade and investment were held,” the interior ministry said. “Discussions were also held on security, counterterrorism and border security areas.”

Naqvi described Pakistan as a “wall” between “terrorism” and the world, the ministry said. 

“Terrorism is a global challenge and the international community urgently needs to cooperate fully with Pakistan,” he was quoted as saying by the ministry. 

The Pakistani minister stressed the importance of sharing intelligence and technology counterterrorism. 

Pakistan and the US will hold a counter-terrorism dialogue in June this year. Cooperation between Islamabad and Washington in the field of counterterrorism is particularly important given the increase in militant attacks in Pakistan’s western provinces bordering Afghanistan. 

Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of sheltering militants that launch attacks on its soil, allegations that have been repeatedly denied by the Taliban government in Kabul. 
 


Pakistan’s Jamaat-e-Islami party to hold ‘Gaza Solidarity March’ in Karachi today 

Updated 13 April 2025
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Pakistan’s Jamaat-e-Islami party to hold ‘Gaza Solidarity March’ in Karachi today 

  • JI to hold march at Karachi’s busy Shahrah-e-Faisal road at 4:00 p.m. today, says party 
  • At least 1,560 Palestinians have been killed since Israel resumed bombarding Gaza in March

ISLAMABAD: Thousands of supporters of prominent Pakistani religiopolitical party Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) are expected to take part in a “Gaza Solidarity March” in the southern port city of Karachi against Israel’s military offensives in the Palestinian territory. 

The protest will take place days after the JI held demonstrations in Lahore and other major cities on Friday to protest Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and urge Muslim nations to stop the bloodshed. 

Gaza’s Health Ministry says at least 1,560 people have been killed since the fragile truce between Hamas and Israel broke down on Mar. 18. According to Palestinian Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal, at least 500 children are among the dead since Israel resumed the offensive last month.

“A Solidarity with Gaza March will be held on Sunday, Apr. 13 at 4:00 p.m. on Shahrah-e-Faisal in Karachi,” the JI said in a post on social media platform X on Saturday. 

The JI has already announced it will lead a protest march to the US Embassy in Islamabad on Apr. 20. 

Pakistan, which does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, has frequently criticized the Jewish state for its military operations in Gaza. Islamabad has also called for the resumption of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory and the need for a revival of negotiations leading to a two-state solution.

Islamabad consistently calls for an independent Palestinian state along the pre-1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital. 

Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israel’s military offensives in Gaza have killed over 50,000 people and wounded over 116,000, as per the Gaza Health Ministry. 


Veteran Pakistani comedian Javed ‘Kodu’ passes away after prolonged illness

Updated 13 April 2025
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Veteran Pakistani comedian Javed ‘Kodu’ passes away after prolonged illness

  • Muhammad Javed starred in over 150 Punjabi, Urdu films and several stage productions since 1981 
  • Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says void left by late comedian’s passing is likely to never be filled 

ISLAMABAD: Veteran Pakistani stage and television comedian Muhammad Javed, popularly known as “Javed Kodu,” passed away in the eastern city of Lahore on Sunday after suffering from prolonged illness, state-run media reported. 

Javed, who as per media reports was 50 years old, was widely recognized for his comedic talent and distinctive short stature. 

He passed away during the wee hours of Sunday after a long battle with illness. The comedian’s funeral prayers will be held at the marquee behind his residence in Lahore’s Singhpura area, state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said. 

“The veteran performer, who dedicated more than four decades to the entertainment industry, leaves behind a legacy of laughter, resilience, and heartfelt performances,” APP reported.

Born with dwarfism, Javed faced numerous societal and professional challenges throughout his life, APP said. 

It added that his stage name “Kodu” was affectionately given to him by legendary comedian Akhtar Hussain Albela.

Javed began acting in 1981 with the play “Sode Baaz” and went on to star in over 150 Punjabi and Urdu films, along with several stage productions.

His TV drama “Ashiyana” was a hit with fans and is arguably the most popular television project Javed was associated with. 

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief at Javed’s passing, praising his talent as a comedian. 

“Javed Kodu, who was famous for his short stature and towering talent, leaves behind a void in the media industry that is likely never to be filled,” Sharif was quoted as saying by his office. 

The late comedian is survived by his wife and two sons. One of his sons, Shera, is a popular performer on the comedy show “Mazaaq Raat.


Pakistan urges Tehran to arrest those responsible for killing its nationals in Iran

Updated 13 April 2025
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Pakistan urges Tehran to arrest those responsible for killing its nationals in Iran

  • Baloch separatists have claimed responsibility for killing eight Pakistanis in Sistan-Baluchestan
  • Iranian embassy in Pakistan condemns attack, calls for joint efforts to battle “terrorism” in region

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has asked Iran to arrest the culprits responsible for killing eight Pakistani nationals this week in its Sistan-Baluchestan province, calling on regional states to adopt a coordinated strategy to defeat the menace of “terrorism.”

The news of the killings first emerged in local media on Saturday evening, though Pakistan’s foreign ministry and federal authorities did not issue immediate statements.

However, the foreign office later confirmed the development in response to media queries. It said that Islamabad was in contact with Iranian authorities and would comment once the details were confirmed. 

In a separate statement, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief over the killing of the eight Pakistani nationals and voiced concern over the attack on Iranian soil.

“The Iranian government must bring those responsible to justice and share the reasons behind this heinous act with the public,” Sharif said in a statement released by his office on Saturday. 

The Pakistani premier expressed grief at the loss of lives in the incident. 

“Terrorism is a scourge that is devastating for all countries in the region,” he added. “All regional states must implement a coordinated strategy to root out terrorism.”

The prime minister also directed Pakistan’s foreign ministry to remain in contact with the victims’ families and instructed the embassy in Tehran to ensure the safe repatriation of the bodies.

Meanwhile, Iran’s embassy in Pakistan condemned the attack as a “cowardly one,” calling for joint efforts to eradicate “terrorism.”

“Combating this ominous phenomenon requires collective and joint efforts by all countries to eradicate all forms of terrorism and extremism that have claimed the lives of thousands of innocent people in recent decades,” the embassy said.

On Saturday, Afghanistan’s Khaama Press News Agency reported the attack took place in the early hours of the day in a village in Mehrestan district, located near the Iran-Pakistan border. The outlet said the victims were auto mechanics.

However, the separatist Balochistan National Army (BNA) claimed responsibility for the attack later in the day, alleging that the slain workers were members of Pakistan’s premier spy agency.

Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has faced a low-level insurgency for nearly two decades. Baloch separatist groups accuse the central government of exploiting the region’s natural resources, such as gold and copper, without benefiting the local population.

Islamabad denies the allegations, saying it is committed to improving the lives of Baloch residents through various development projects.

Thousands of Pakistanis, mostly from economically disadvantaged regions, frequently cross into Iran to take up informal work in sectors such as vehicle repair, construction and agriculture.

In January last year, nine Pakistani laborers were killed and three critically injured in a similar attack in Saravan city, also located in Iran’s southeastern border region.

The victims in that case had also been working at an auto repair shop.

Last year’s killings took place at a time when Pakistan and Iran were trying to mend diplomatic ties following tit-for-tat missile and drone strikes.