Reports from earlier this month that the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are pledging support for ISIS have proven untrue, and long-time TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid has been ousted by the movement for the comments.
Shahid appears to have been part of a small faction of minor commanders within the TTP who felt that way, and in addition to announcing the replacement of Shahid, the TTP reportedly also saw five other figures defecting.
It wasn’t all pro-active joining ISIS either, as TTP figures were quoted as saying that some of the commanders who left were expressing “doubts about the leadership of Mullah Mohammed Omar.”
TTP leader Mullah Fazlullah had praised ISIS in previous speeches, but the group maintains that its loyalty is primarily to Mullah Omar, the former Afghan ruler, and that they are not joining the ISIS Caliphate.