Pakistan Army Rejects ‘Good Taliban, Bad Taliban’ Distinction
Pakistan’s military has said it does not distinguish between different Taliban factions, declaring that “there is no such thing as good or bad Taliban.”
Pakistan’s military has said it does not distinguish between different Taliban factions, declaring that “there is no such thing as good or bad Taliban.”
The statement did not clarify whether the term “bad Taliban” referred to both the Afghan Taliban and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Army spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry made the remarks on Tuesday, 25 November, during a press briefing in which he rejected Taliban claims that Pakistan carried out airstrikes in several Afghan provinces the previous night. He said Pakistan’s military did not differentiate between terrorist groups.
The phrase “good Taliban and bad Taliban” became widely used during the years of conflict in Afghanistan, as Afghan politicians repeatedly accused Pakistan of supporting certain Taliban factions while fighting others. Pakistan is now facing a sharp rise in domestic militancy and has struggled to contain Islamist insurgent groups.
For years, Afghan politicians and security officials including Hanif Atmar, Amrullah Saleh, and Rahmatullah Nabil warned that Pakistan’s “good Taliban, bad Taliban” approach was destabilising and fuelled regional mistrust.
This is the first time Pakistan’s military has publicly stated that such distinctions do not exist, and the remarks come amid heightened tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban authorities.
After a series of deadly clashes along the border in October, the two sides held talks in Doha that resulted in a temporary ceasefire. Pakistan and the Taliban later met for two additional rounds of negotiations in Istanbul in search of a broader agreement, but both rounds ended without progress.
