Pakistani Taliban Fires Spokesman Over Pro-ISIS Comments

TTP Reports Five Minor Commanders Also Defected

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.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.