Recent reports of the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) setting up shop in Syria and sending “hundreds of men” to fight alongside al-Qaeda appear to have been untrue, according to the Pakistani Foreign Office.
Reports got around with unnamed TTP commanders quoted by Reuters confirming the move, but not only does the Foreign Office say that’s not the case, other TTP leaders quoted by Agence-France Presse (AFP) have also said it’s untrue.
The AFP-quoted commanders say that some individual fighters have gone to Syria, but no official organizational shift had happened, adding that “we have far better targets in the region, NATO troops headed by the Americans are present in Afghanistan.”
There were speculations that the claims were part of a “propaganda campaign” by unknown actors to portray the TTP as a force with worldwide aspirations, when in reality their fighters have rarely left Pakistan, and then only to engage in fights in neighboring Afghanistan.
The Pakistani Foreign Office is incompetent. How do I know? I worked for them for 20 years. How would they know if no Pakistani Taliban has left Pakistan to join Syria? Just another stupid statement from the PFO.