Old Habits Die Hard As Kabul Protects TTP Leaders From Pakistani Strikes

Faced with a choice between abandoning its terror proxies and facing Pakistan’s response, the Taliban regime appears to have made its decision. According to security sources, Kabul is not preparing to rein in the militants who strike Pakistan from Afghan soil. It is preparing to hide them.

Bracing for strikes, not reform

Fearing Pakistan’s air capabilities, the regime is reportedly moving unused aircraft spares from Kabul to Shindand in Herat and to Mazar-i-Sharif. Spares still in active use are being dispersed across existing locations, for which 100 twenty-foot containers have been procured.

The same sources say ammunition dumps and drone facilities are being relocated inside populated areas, effectively using civilians as human shields. If true, it is a cynical calculation: place weapons among ordinary Afghans, then count on their presence to deter, or exploit, any strike.

Sheltering the TTP leadership

Top leaders of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, including Noor Wali Mehsud and Hafiz Gul Bahadur, have reportedly been lodged in apartments within multi-storey blocks in Kabul as a safeguard against possible Pakistani air strikes.

Their presence in Afghanistan is no secret. The UN Security Council’s monitoring team has reported that Noor Wali Mehsud is believed to be living in Kabul, with his family receiving a monthly payment from the Taliban. It has described the TTP as the largest terrorist group in Afghanistan, with an estimated 6,000 fighters, and concluded that the Taliban are unlikely to act against it because of longstanding ties.

Disinformation in waiting

Security sources further claim that the regime has drafted statements in advance alleging strikes on “civil areas and commercial markets”. It has reportedly paired them with collected images of routine accidents and past incidents, ready for a pre-planned disinformation campaign should Pakistan target terrorist hideouts. In other words, the narrative of civilian victimhood is being written before any strike has taken place.

Old habits

None of this would be necessary if the Taliban changed their policy of sponsoring terrorists against their neighbours. A regime that spends its energy shielding wanted militants, dispersing military assets into residential areas and scripting propaganda in advance is not a victim of aggression. It is a patron of terror bracing for the consequences. Pakistan has repeatedly pointed to UN findings documenting TTP sanctuaries in Afghanistan. Kabul’s response, once again, is concealment rather than change. Old habits, it seems, never go away.

SAT Commentary

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