Ehsanullah Ehsan, former spokesperson of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has claimed that Pakistan is increasingly concerned about the Taliban’s growing ties with India. He also alleged that Pakistan is using ISIS to pressure the Afghan Taliban.
On Sunday, 10 March, The Sunday Guardian, an Indian newspaper, published an article by Ehsan. He argued that Pakistan has long used ISIS as a proxy force in Afghanistan to destabilise the region and weaken the Taliban’s control.
Tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban have increased over accusations of Islamabad’s alleged support for ISIS. In response to Pakistan’s criticism of the Taliban for backing TTP militants, the Afghan Taliban accused Pakistan of harbouring ISIS members in Balochistan.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry strongly denied this claim. However, Ehsan wrote that Pakistan’s renewed use of militant groups in Kashmir and Afghanistan reflects its strategic failures.
India supported Afghanistan’s former government but has since strengthened its diplomatic, trade, and political ties with the Taliban. Meanwhile, the Taliban, once a Pakistani proxy, has shifted towards closer engagement with India.
According to Ehsan, Pakistan does not want Afghanistan to develop strong ties with India. He claimed that Islamabad fears New Delhi’s growing influence in the region.
Ehsan alleged that Pakistan is now attempting to destabilise Afghanistan to pressure the Taliban, using ISIS as one of its tools. He warned that the rise of ISIS in Afghanistan could further damage relations between the Taliban and Pakistan.
The claim that Pakistan supports ISIS has been repeatedly made by Afghan Taliban officials. Recently, after the arrest of one of the perpetrators of the September 2021 Kabul airport attack in Pakistan, the Taliban accused Islamabad of protecting ISIS members and giving them safe havens.
Taliban officials also alleged that ISIS-Khorasan leaders and fighters have been relocated to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan with help from Pakistani intelligence agencies.
Pakistan has strongly rejected these accusations, calling them baseless. It has also denied the presence of ISIS-Khorasan leaders, fighters, or training camps in its territory.
Historically, the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban have been allies, supporting each other in conflicts. TTP militants fought alongside the Afghan Taliban against Afghanistan’s previous government. Now, in return, the Afghan Taliban is accused of providing sanctuary to TTP fighters in Afghanistan.
