At War with Pakistan: The Assassination of TTP Commander Omar Khalid Khorasani and its Impact on the “Pakistani Taliban”
At War with Pakistan: The Assassination of TTP Commander Omar Khalid Khorasani and its Impact on the “Pakistani Taliban”
After the fall of the Afghan government in August 2021, Taliban-ruled Afghanistan once again emerged as a safe haven for Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the “Pakistani Taliban.” Despite serious complaints from the Pakistani government, the Afghan Taliban have taken few measures to dislodge TTP from Afghanistan. In addition, the Afghan Taliban-sponsored peace talks between the Pakistani government and TTP have also failed (VOA Asia, August 8).
Given this scenario, TTP high command is now openly seen in Kabul, Kandahar and other cities of Afghanistan. Yet, TTP still suffered a massive loss when prominent commander and emir of Jamaat ul Ahrar, Omar Khalid Khorasani, was killed during a trip to Paktika, Afghanistan in August 2021, while he was based in Kunar, Afghanistan with his family (Express Tribune, August 9). Who killed him and why they did so has remained a mystery until now. With peace talks stalled, the TTP and Pakistani government are once again at each other’s throats due to the assassination.
Khorasani’s Career Background
Khorasani’s given name is Abdul Wali but he adopted his alias “Omar Khalid Khorasani” later in life while among other jihadists (Times of India, August 8). He hails from a family belonging to the Safi tribe and was born and raised in the small village of Kandharo in the Safi subdivision of Mohmand district in 1980, where he also attended the local religious seminary of his village school. Later he attended religious seminaries in Karachi and graduated in 1990. [1] During his studies in Karachi, he developed relations with Islamist militant organizations operating in Indian Kashmir and became involved in collecting funds for them in Karachi. In particular, he supported mostly Harkat ul Mujahedeen (HuM). [2]
Soon after the launch of TTP in 2007, he was designated as TTP commander for Mohmand district. He also became part of TTP’s central shura and held that post until his death in August. Initially, Khorasani was instrumental as a TTP commander, but he soon developed rifts with then TTP Emir Hakeemullah Mehsud and formed his own faction called Jamaat ul Ahrar without officially parting ways with TTP in 2014 (VOA Asia, July 7, 2017). He later joined hands with the next TTP Emir Mullah Fazalullah, but maintained his semi-independence with Jamaat ul Ahrar. TTP is not a monolithic entity but rather an umbrella organization comprising more than 42 jihadist organizations mostly based in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhawa province and other districts falling under the former Pakistan tribal areas, which meant Jamaat ul Ahrar’s existence alongside TTP was not inconsistent with TTP’s organizational structure.
In an interview with the jihadist magazine Iheya-e-Khilafat, Khorasani also shed light on his jihadist genealogy by stating that his grandfather was involved in “jihad against the British” before the partition of India and the independence of Pakistan. One generation later, his father fought against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan during the Afghan Jihad from 1979 to 1989. During the first Afghan Taliban government from 1996 to 2001, Khorasani himself then joined the Afghan Taliban and served as a foot soldier in Kunar, which is adjacent to the Pakistani border. [3] Khorasani followed the family tradition by serving the Afghan Taliban during its first rule and later after the commencement of the Global War on Terror in 2001 he provided refuge to on-the-run foreign jihadists and al-Qaeda militants. Ultimately, he joined hands with TTP in 2007 and became the commander of Mohmand district.
A Well-Diversified Jihadist
Khorasani became a peculiar case of a jihadist insofar as profiles of jihadists in Afghanistan and Pakistan are concerned. He eventually trained at an al-Qaeda-run training camp in Afghanistan during the first Afghan Taliban government and then joined TTP in Pakistan and formed his own jihadist outfit affiliated with the TTP. [4] In early 2002, he published his own jihadist magazine “Mohmand Adbi Guncha [Mohmand Literary Flower]” while he was based in Mohmand district and provided safe havens to the escaping foreign jihadists after the fall of Afghan Taliban rule in 2002. Among those whom he provided shelter to were Arabs, Uzbeks, Chechens and Chinese Uighurs, who were previously part of Brigade 055 of al-Qaeda in Mohmand district.
These relationships allowed Khorasani to broaden his network to mainland Pakistan and form Jamaat ul Ahrar, which claimed a number of attacks in Lahore following the footsteps of the mother organization, the TTP. The most notable attack they conducted was the Wagah border suicide attack that killed 70 people, although the group also struck other cities in Pakistan (Al-Jazeera, August 8). Apart from being wanted by the Pakistani government, Khorasani was also listed as most wanted by the U.S State Department’s Rewards for Justice in March 2018 with a reward of up to $3 million. His name was also placed on the UN Security Council’s sanctions committee (the 1267 Committee) in 2017 (Dawn, August 8).
Khorasani was ultimately killed on August 7 in an IED attack on his vehicle while he was travelling in Barmal district of Paktika province. Two of his accomplices, Mufti Hassan and Hafiz Dawlat Khan, were also killed in the incident (Dunya News, August 8). No individual or organization has yet claimed responsibility of the attack, but the assassination of Khorasani was a major blow to TTP and Jamaat ul Ahrar. He was involved in the then ongoing peace talks between the TTP and the Pakistani government when he was killed (Terrorism Monitor, October 21). The peace talks were held in Kabul under the aegis of the Afghan Taliban in the first half of 2022 and ended with no major outcomes. A number of Khorasani’s photographs were also released before the attack while the peace talks were underway, and he was openly roaming around in Afghanistan after the Afghan Taliban took power in August 2021. The fear of U.S drone strikes had ended at that time and perhaps that was one reason why Khorasani became too exposed.
Who was Behind Khorasani’s Assassination?
The question thus arises about who could have been behind his assassination. The sophisticated attack is clear proof that the perpetrators were highly skilled and planned the attack diligently. This leaves possibilities of the involvement of Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP) whose motive would be to weaken the alliance partners of Afghan Taliban including the TTP; rival TTP factions whose motive would be internal schism; or, most likely the Pakistani intelligence service, who would like him eliminated because of his rigid stance during the talks. Whoever was behind the attack nevertheless managed to inflict a serious blow to the TTP because Khorasani was one of the most capable of all remaining TTP commanders, who are still at war with the Pakistani state.
Conclusion
Khorasani was targeted a number of times by the CIA in drone strikes but he survived all of them and remained vigilant (BBC Asia, October 19). It was only after the withdrawal of U.S forces and the takeover of Kabul by the Afghan Taliban that he finally felt at home and surfaced in Kabul and other cities, but ironically it was at this point that he was killed. He seems to have become “too casual” after the U.S withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was among the reasons why his assassins were able to successfully target him.
As far as the TTP’s future course of action and a TTP without Khorasani is concerned, it will be important to assess how TTP reacts to his assassination. TTP has lost a large number of its experienced commanders in U.S drone strikes in the past several years. In a post-U.S era in Afghanistan, TTP aspires to continue attacks in Pakistan while remaining under the protection of the Afghan Taliban.
However, the assassination of Khorasani has changed the overall scenario for TTP in the region. At this moment the talks between TTP and the Pakistani government seem to be a bridge too far. TTP’s emir Noor Wali Mehsud will now expend efforts to review TTP’s current protocols and strategies for fending off its enemies in and out of Afghanistan.
Notes:
[1] For details, see: “Special Interview of Omar Khalid Khurasani”, Ihya-e-Khilafat (Official TTP magazine), September 2013 Issue. [2] HuM in the early 1990s was the premier jihadist organization in the Indian Kashmir insurgency. It was commanded by Fazal ur Rehman Khalil, one of the co-signatories of the fatwa against the Jews and Crusaders alongside Osama Bin Laden in 1998. HuM operatives were also involved in kidnapping and beheading two Norwegian tourists in Indian Kashmir and hijacked Indian Airline Flight from Kathmandu, Nepal to Kandahar in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan in 2000. The operation resulted in the release of three of HuM’s prominent members from Indian prison. [3] “Special Interview of Omar Khalid Khurasani”, Ihya-e-Khilafat (Official TTP magazine), September 2013 Issue. [4] Discussions with Islamabad-based senior journalist and analyst Azaz Syed in Islamabad on October 16, 2022.
