Pakistan seeks US help against TTP

WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s army chief is in Washington this week seeking US assistance against what Islamabad alleges are terrorist havens in neighboring Afghanistan, according to Voice of America (VOA).

General Asim Munir is trying to convince US security and defense officials that militant groups such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamic State’s Khorasan offshoot (IS-K) pose a threat not only to Pakistan but also to US and global security, experts say.

“In seeking US sympathy and support for Pakistan’s counterterrorism concerns, he may note the many years of US-Pakistan military cooperation that includes some counterterrorism collaborations, as well as many years of military education and training exchanges,” said Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center.

“He will likely also note that both countries face threats emanating from Afghanistan, whether IS-K or TTP,” Kugelman added.

On Wednesday, Munir met with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and discussed “recent regional security developments and potential areas for bilateral defense cooperation,” according to a brief statement from the Pentagon.

Despite the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan over two years ago, the United States has retained what US officials term over-the-horizon capabilities in the region: the ability to strike targets in response to security threats. In July 2022, a US drone strike killed Ayman al-Zawahiri the former al-Qaida chief in Kabul.

The de facto Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have consistently rejected Pakistan’s allegations, saying they do not permit groups and individuals to pose threats to any country from Afghan soil.

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Pakistan has grappled with the TTP insurgency for nearly two decades, but Pakistani officials claim that the group has escalated its terrorist activities since the Afghan Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in 2021.

Before coming to Washington, Munir met Thomas West, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan, in Islamabad.

“The United States stands with Pakistan against terrorism in the region,” West wrote on X, adding that the TTP poses “grave security challenges.”

While expressing sympathy and understanding, the US — at least for now — does not seem to be considering military action specifically against TTP hideouts in Afghanistan.

“With respect to relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, obviously we support diplomatic resolution to all of the various issues between those two countries,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Monday.

The United States has funded several counterterrorism capacity-building programs in Pakistan focused on law enforcement and justice, Miller said Wednesday when asked what kind of support the US would offer Pakistan.

Washington’s position appears grounded in its own risk assessment.

“The US, and particularly the current administration, is fed up with military involvement in South-Central Asia,” Robert Grenier, the former head of counterterrorism at the Central Intelligence Agency, told VOA in written comments.

“Absent attacks on US interests clearly emanating from Afghanistan, the US will remain neutral,” he said.