MilSpec
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Taliban for all practical means from this forum is designated in two parties, the pakistani taliban and afghan taliban.
The official stance of pakistan is that government of pakistan is at war against all forms of terrorism (except kashimiri terrorists).
The claim of quite a few member here is pakistani taliban is funded by Raw/Cia/Mossad/etc. hence are attacking pakistani assets.
Another claim is pakistani military or some of it's junior level cadre are sympathetic to the Afghan taliban who were once brother in arms.
Afghan Talban:
To understanding taliban and it's pakistani connection, we need to revisit the soviet pullout and outbreak of civil war in afghanistan. Numerous Ex-Mujhahideen commanders post soviet withdrawal found themselves in position of power and tremendous infighting had started. Ahmed shah massoud, Ahmed rashid dostum, Jalaluddin Hekmetyar, Haqqani, Abdul Rahim Wardak and Abdul Haq were few of the influential commanders of that time.
With political turmoil, a new leader Mohd Mullah Omar rose and used religious fundamentalism to futher his reach. ISI recognized, this opportunity and hordes of volunteers/students (talibs) from madarsas, most Afghan refugees and a significant amount from pakistani tribal regions (all operating under the umbrella of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam funded by saudi oil money ) joined the effort to dislodge the communist backed government in kabul to form the so called Islamic Utopia. ISI also embedded it's military advisers and provided significant training, funding and logistical support to this effort. ISI brokered deal between this new emerging group with military factions of gulbudeen hekymatyaar and jalaudeen haqanni (all pashtun organisations). Peter Tomsen stated that up until 9/11 Pakistani military and ISI officers along with thousands of regular Pakistani armed forces personnel had been involved in the fighting in AfghanistanIn 2001 alone, according to several international sources, 28,000-30,000 Pakistani nationals, 14,000-15,000 Afghan Taliban and 2,000-3,000 Al Qaeda militants were fighting against anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan as a roughly 45,000 strong military force.
Ref: Edward Girardet. Killing the Cranes: A Reporter's Journey Through Three Decades of War in Afghanistan (August 3, 2011 ed.)
Taliban forces backed by PA, in the course of 1994, the Taliban took control of 12 of 34 provinces not under central government control, finally attacked kabul and seized control. Ahmed Shah Massoud, the defence minister at that time retreated to Panjshir valley, which in modern history never fell either to the soviets or to the Taliban.
The Taliban, however, suffered a devastating defeat against government forces of the Islamic State under the command of Ahmad Shah Massoud. Pakistan, however, started to provide stronger military support to the Taliban. Many analysts like Amin Saikal describe the Taliban as developing into a proxy force for Pakistan's regional interests. On September 26, 1996, as the Taliban with military support by Pakistan and financial support by Saudi Arabia prepared for another major offensive, Massoud ordered a full retreat from Kabul to continue anti-Taliban resistance in the Hindu Kush mountains instead of engaging in street battles in Kabul. The Taliban entered Kabul on September 27, 1996, and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
Post 9/11 Pakistan abandoned the same taliban that it had nurtured and fed for years, but Pakistani military, did know the fact that ISAF forces wouldn't stay in kabul for ever and hence ISI airlifted the most important Taliban/AQ leadership along with pakistani military operators from Konduz (Ref Air lift of evil). Leaders like Mullah omar, Al zawhiri and Bin Laden were unaccounted for. Most of top level AQ leaders that were arrested by both ISI and CIA were not found in afghanistan but in pakistan.
For pakistani military "Afghan Taliban" hols tremendous potential in case of US withdrawal and hence pakistan will not deliberately alienate the surviving leadership of Afghan Taliban.
Pakistani Taliban:
Although not much is clear about this organization, there are some frivolous claims of Pakistanis that "India finances a fundamental muslim organisation that also derives much of it's cadres from some of the groups engaged in kashmir against India". Another claim is "CIA funds the TTP to cause turmoil in pakistan" which is surprising because it seems CIA can operate with impunity targeting pakistani targets at will hence the case for arming an insurgency against pakistan seems farfetched.
A more reasonable understanding might be that, TTP is the lower level cadres of Afghan taliban which was disillusioned by pakistani tactics and brought the islamic utopia concept back to pakistan. For pakistani government taliban doctrine is profitable to export but is impossible to own as pakistani society is a moderate modern progressive islamic society. 1500 year old styled islamic sharia doesn't suit pakistan, and TTP is hell bent on bringing that on, hence now Pakistani military (frontier corp) is trying to engage TTP, where it can diffuse the situation with talks it talks, when that doesn't work out pakistani military goes on the offensive.
The objective of pakistani military wrt to taliban is not to defeat then but to contain them till US/ISAF withdraws from pakistan... once that happen, pakistan will facilitate the return of taliban, both ttp and afghan versions back to it's home ground to dislodge "northern alliance kaffirs!"
The official stance of pakistan is that government of pakistan is at war against all forms of terrorism (except kashimiri terrorists).
The claim of quite a few member here is pakistani taliban is funded by Raw/Cia/Mossad/etc. hence are attacking pakistani assets.
Another claim is pakistani military or some of it's junior level cadre are sympathetic to the Afghan taliban who were once brother in arms.
Afghan Talban:
To understanding taliban and it's pakistani connection, we need to revisit the soviet pullout and outbreak of civil war in afghanistan. Numerous Ex-Mujhahideen commanders post soviet withdrawal found themselves in position of power and tremendous infighting had started. Ahmed shah massoud, Ahmed rashid dostum, Jalaluddin Hekmetyar, Haqqani, Abdul Rahim Wardak and Abdul Haq were few of the influential commanders of that time.
With political turmoil, a new leader Mohd Mullah Omar rose and used religious fundamentalism to futher his reach. ISI recognized, this opportunity and hordes of volunteers/students (talibs) from madarsas, most Afghan refugees and a significant amount from pakistani tribal regions (all operating under the umbrella of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam funded by saudi oil money ) joined the effort to dislodge the communist backed government in kabul to form the so called Islamic Utopia. ISI also embedded it's military advisers and provided significant training, funding and logistical support to this effort. ISI brokered deal between this new emerging group with military factions of gulbudeen hekymatyaar and jalaudeen haqanni (all pashtun organisations). Peter Tomsen stated that up until 9/11 Pakistani military and ISI officers along with thousands of regular Pakistani armed forces personnel had been involved in the fighting in AfghanistanIn 2001 alone, according to several international sources, 28,000-30,000 Pakistani nationals, 14,000-15,000 Afghan Taliban and 2,000-3,000 Al Qaeda militants were fighting against anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan as a roughly 45,000 strong military force.
Ref: Edward Girardet. Killing the Cranes: A Reporter's Journey Through Three Decades of War in Afghanistan (August 3, 2011 ed.)
Taliban forces backed by PA, in the course of 1994, the Taliban took control of 12 of 34 provinces not under central government control, finally attacked kabul and seized control. Ahmed Shah Massoud, the defence minister at that time retreated to Panjshir valley, which in modern history never fell either to the soviets or to the Taliban.
The Taliban, however, suffered a devastating defeat against government forces of the Islamic State under the command of Ahmad Shah Massoud. Pakistan, however, started to provide stronger military support to the Taliban. Many analysts like Amin Saikal describe the Taliban as developing into a proxy force for Pakistan's regional interests. On September 26, 1996, as the Taliban with military support by Pakistan and financial support by Saudi Arabia prepared for another major offensive, Massoud ordered a full retreat from Kabul to continue anti-Taliban resistance in the Hindu Kush mountains instead of engaging in street battles in Kabul. The Taliban entered Kabul on September 27, 1996, and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
Post 9/11 Pakistan abandoned the same taliban that it had nurtured and fed for years, but Pakistani military, did know the fact that ISAF forces wouldn't stay in kabul for ever and hence ISI airlifted the most important Taliban/AQ leadership along with pakistani military operators from Konduz (Ref Air lift of evil). Leaders like Mullah omar, Al zawhiri and Bin Laden were unaccounted for. Most of top level AQ leaders that were arrested by both ISI and CIA were not found in afghanistan but in pakistan.
For pakistani military "Afghan Taliban" hols tremendous potential in case of US withdrawal and hence pakistan will not deliberately alienate the surviving leadership of Afghan Taliban.
Pakistani Taliban:
Although not much is clear about this organization, there are some frivolous claims of Pakistanis that "India finances a fundamental muslim organisation that also derives much of it's cadres from some of the groups engaged in kashmir against India". Another claim is "CIA funds the TTP to cause turmoil in pakistan" which is surprising because it seems CIA can operate with impunity targeting pakistani targets at will hence the case for arming an insurgency against pakistan seems farfetched.
A more reasonable understanding might be that, TTP is the lower level cadres of Afghan taliban which was disillusioned by pakistani tactics and brought the islamic utopia concept back to pakistan. For pakistani government taliban doctrine is profitable to export but is impossible to own as pakistani society is a moderate modern progressive islamic society. 1500 year old styled islamic sharia doesn't suit pakistan, and TTP is hell bent on bringing that on, hence now Pakistani military (frontier corp) is trying to engage TTP, where it can diffuse the situation with talks it talks, when that doesn't work out pakistani military goes on the offensive.
The objective of pakistani military wrt to taliban is not to defeat then but to contain them till US/ISAF withdraws from pakistan... once that happen, pakistan will facilitate the return of taliban, both ttp and afghan versions back to it's home ground to dislodge "northern alliance kaffirs!"
