New Delhi: Senior Afghan Taliban commander Saeedullah Saeed has publicly condemned the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) attacks in Pakistan, conducted from Afghan soil, labelling them “un-Islamic” and warning that only the Taliban emir has the authority to declare jihad.
Speaking at a police passing-out ceremony Wednesday, Saeed stated that unauthorised cross-border attacks violate Sharia law and amount to illegitimate jihad. The term ‘jihad’ is used by these groups to define armed struggle or resistance against their perceived adversaries.
He further added that defying the Islamic Emirate’s orders to avoid attacks in Pakistan constitutes religious disobedience and warned that jihad motivated by personal or group interests amounts to anarchy.
“If the state has prohibited going to Pakistan, then defying that order amounts to religious disobedience,” he said, without giving details.
“Fighting in any country, including Pakistan, without the command of the emir is against Sharia and considered fasad (corruption), not legitimate jihad,” Saeed said.
Saeed emphasised that the Islamic Emirate has officially banned unauthorised cross-border movement, and any defiance of this directive constitutes religious disobedience.
His remarks come amid a sharp increase in TTP-led violence emanating from Afghan territory, with over 600 attacks in Pakistan recorded in 2024, according to a UN report.
The TTP, founded in 2007 by Baitullah Mehsud, seeks to establish an Islamist state in Pakistan similar to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and has been responsible for a number of deadly attacks in the country, including the 2014 Peshawar school massacre. Though separate entities, the TTP and Afghan Taliban share ethnic and ideological ties, with the TTP relying on sanctuary across the Afghan border.
It is now ranked among the world’s deadliest terrorist organisations, according to the Global Terrorism Index 2025, released in March.
The report identifies the four most lethal terrorist groups in 2024 as the Islamic State (IS), Jamaat Nusrat Al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM), Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and al-Shabaab.
The report stated that the TTP accounted for the largest surge in fatalities in Pakistan, with deaths rising by 90 percent to a total of 558.
Still, the Afghan Taliban considers the TTP an “internal issue” for Pakistan and shows limited interest in curbing its operations.
Since 2022, Pakistan has launched military operations inside Afghanistan and imposed economic and refugee restrictions to pressure the Taliban regime. The ongoing conflict has deepened tensions in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, fuelling resentment against the military establishment.
Pakistani officials have long referred to certain factions under the TTP umbrella—whom they label Khawarij—as alleged proxies acting against Pakistan’s interests, often blaming external forces for supporting them.
The term Khawarij, historically used in Islamic discourse to describe rebels who deviate from legitimate religious authority, has increasingly been invoked by both the Afghan Taliban and Pakistani authorities to delegitimise extremist splinter groups.
Historically, Pakistan has been a key backer of the Afghan Taliban, supporting Islamist fighters since the Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980s. The Taliban emerged from religious seminaries in Pakistan, enjoying substantial financial and ideological support from Islamabad.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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