Pakistan Faces Its Own Creation: TTP Threatens Army Chief as Taliban Turns into a Strategic Headache for Islamabad

In a twist of historical irony, Pakistan now finds itself cornered by the very forces it helped create decades ago.

A series of recent videos released by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — a militant group that traces its ideological roots to the Afghan Taliban — has put Pakistan’s Army Chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, in an extremely uncomfortable position.

The videos feature TTP Commander Kazim openly threatening Munir and mocking the Pakistani army’s leadership.

One clip, which includes footage of an October 8 ambush in Kurram district (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), shows captured weapons and vehicles, claiming that 22 Pakistani soldiers were killed. Islamabad’s official version, however, acknowledges only 11 casualties.

In the video, Kazim taunts the Pakistan military, saying, “Face us if you are a man. Fight us if you have had your mother’s milk.”

The statement, dripping with derision, underlines the emboldened confidence of the TTP — once a proxy of Pakistan’s own regional strategies.

Following the video’s release, Pakistani authorities announced a 10-crore rupee bounty for information leading to Kazim’s capture.

The Monster Pakistan Created

For decades, Pakistan’s intelligence establishment lent covert support to the Taliban movement during the Afghan civil war, nurturing it as a strategic buffer against India and to maintain influence in Afghanistan.

But today, the same ideology has evolved into a double-edged sword.

While the Afghan Taliban, now in power in Kabul, has shown relative restraint and is attempting to govern within its national framework, its ideological cousin, the TTP, continues to wage war against Islamabad.

The TTP, emboldened by safe havens along the Durand Line, has grown into a powerful insurgent network capable of destabilizing Pakistan’s border regions and openly threatening its military leadership.

In a chilling reversal of roles, the Taliban, once a client of Pakistan’s policies, has become its most unpredictable neighbor — one that Islamabad can neither control nor confront directly.

As one observer put it, “Pakistan is now tasting the bitter fruit of the seeds it once sowed.”

Ceasefire Amid Tensions

Following days of cross-border shelling, airstrikes, and civilian casualties on both sides, Pakistan and the Taliban-led Afghan authorities agreed to a Qatar- and Turkey-mediated ceasefire in mid-October.

The truce, announced in Doha, was seen as a desperate attempt to prevent further escalation along the porous Durand Line.

However, Islamabad made it clear that peace would only hold if Kabul cracks down on groups like the TTP operating from Afghan soil — a demand that exposes Pakistan’s waning leverage over the very regime it once helped to power.

A Brewing Internal Crisis

Analysts warn that the TTP’s resurgence has emboldened other extremist outfits such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), and Jaish-e-Mohammad splinter cells.

The LeJ, known for sectarian violence, and ISKP, which has absorbed disgruntled TTP fighters, are closely watching the group’s battlefield momentum.

The recent surge in violence has laid bare the Pakistan Army’s inability to contain the insurgency or devise a coherent governance model for the troubled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region.

Reaping What It Sowed

There’s an old saying — “You shall reap what you sow.” For Pakistan, that phrase has never rung truer.

The state that once cultivated extremist networks as strategic tools is now grappling with their consequences. T

he Taliban’s message to Pakistan is unmistakable: the new rulers of Kabul are independent, assertive, and capable of becoming a permanent headache for Islamabad — much like Pakistan has been for some of its own neighbors

At this crossroads, Pakistan has little choice but to adopt a friendlier, more cooperative stance toward the Taliban, demonstrating genuine intentions if it wishes to prevent further instability along its borders.

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