How does TTP serve Pakistan's interests?
By Abdul Naser Noorzad, Security and Geopolitics Researcher, specially for Sangar
In this section, we will discuss how TTP serves Pakistan's interests and how Pakistan seeks to achieve its strategic interests through it. However, the view of most experts, analysts, and those dependent on the psychological warfare waged by Pakistan and its affiliated networks is that TTP has achieved such a level of destructive power and operational capability due to India's extensive operational, military, financial, and political support. But based on the reasons listed below, the author believes that TTP is a Pakistani product and has been designed, deployed, and turned into a psychological warfare monster to achieve the following objectives:
- On the surface, this information is meant for internal use by Pakistan to link the security issue and cover up the failures of the Pakistani government to transition from a military government and war economy (whose only product is security issues like terrorist groups) to a truly effective democratic government that addresses the problems of the people of Pakistan. From a security perspective, governments use security issues to divert public attention from the fact that the core problems are directly related to the failed policies of the governments. This approach, based on the politics of the ruling system, shifts public and useless issues to the private sphere and gives them a national color. In other words, the main objective of building security is to shape and image peripheral issues and turn them into core issues, which provoke nationalistic feelings of the people. Throughout its history, the Pakistani government has always diverted most of the country's foreign aid revenue to military and defense needs to justify its anti-India and anti-Afghan activities. And today, Pakistan's economy is on the verge of bankruptcy, is a consumer economy, and needs loans from the World Bank, the Gulf countries, the US, and the UK, and is also feeling the negative consequences of this dependence. Therefore, the creation of TTP to secure the issue is a cover for the failures and anti-human activities of the ISI;
- In the second stage, by creating TTP, Pakistan wants to show that the government of the country is a victim of terrorism and needs economic, military, and political support from the international community, the region, and neighboring countries. Therefore, the TTP and its functions, caused by the instructions of this country's intelligence, should lead to an influx of aid from the international community. This serial has been going on for many years;
- The fact that Pakistan is always involved in the security games and intelligence wars waged by the major powers and always takes the lead in recruiting jihadi forces to help these plans, so it sometimes happens that powerful players like the United States of America, Russia, and China bring about changes in the ways and rules of the game where ISI is no longer needed. Hence, maintaining the TTP and building up its destructive capacity is a reserve force to maintain Pakistan’s future position in the great power game in the region. On this basis, ISI keeps the TTP as a cash cow and benefits from its existence. Here, the question arises what is the need for Pakistan and its military intelligence organization in the presence of the Afghan Taliban to create the TTP? It is to be noted that the Afghan Taliban now has multiple owners and is not completely under Pakistan’s control as it was imagined. As past events have shown, this group can be a danger to Pakistan, so TTP with its terrible image is a good tool and is under Pakistani command to effectively achieve the depth of its strategy;
- Another objective of Pakistan in creating TTP is to have a destructive power among the Pashtuns of Pakistan, through which on one hand it can break their ethnic structure and create discord, and on the other hand it serves as a justification for their suppression on various occasions. Based on this, the implanted terrorism among the Pashtun tribes across the Durand Line is linked to the strategic objectives of the Pakistan Army, and this tactic has yielded good results so far and is considered a good tool in the struggle for influence of this country in the region.
- Meanwhile, as the TTP issue becomes more and more pressing, Pakistan intends to score points with the major powers in the region and beyond. It starts with the TTP increasing its destructive power and becoming a serious security threat in the region, and ends with the mediation and scoring of points for the Pakistan Army in the arena of its solution with the help of the international community and the region;
- Moreover, another objective of Pakistan is to create a favorable image of the Pakistani government and army as a peace-loving country and a partner of the international community hoping to maintain peace and stability in the region which is itself a victim of this terrorism. This is another dangerous security game of Pakistan. However, the Pakistani government and army are showing that it is a victim of terrorism, and India, its old and historical rival, is responsible for this mess and at the same time it is a sincere partner of the world to cooperate for maintaining peace and stability. - Finally, the objective of the Pakistani army in creating and strengthening TTP is to continue this bloody game and to show that behind the deterioration of the security situation in Pakistan, there are hidden hands of regional powers like India and this bloody game may be adversely affecting the security of the entire region. This is where Pakistan and its army, pursuing one of the most important objectives, are seeking geopolitical exploitation by conquering the geography of Afghanistan and launching attacks on it. For this purpose, TTP is considered a good justification for actions outside Pakistan.
In the next section, we will address this question: if TTP is an intelligence product serving Pakistani interests, then why is it attacking Pakistani army and military installations, and the level of its attacks is increasing?
(To be continued)
