Who is Noor Wali Mehsud, the UN-listed TTP chief on the centre of Afghan-Pak tensions

Noor Wali Mehsud, the chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has emerged on the centre of a contemporary and lethal spherical of violence between Pakistan and Afghanistan after a Pakistani airstrike in Kabul on October 9 focused an armoured car believed to be carrying him. The strike, adopted by a number of days of cross-border clashes earlier than an uneasy ceasefire, has deepened an already fraught safety standoff between Islamabad and the Afghan Taliban authorities. 

Also Read:Pakistan, Afghanistan comply with 48-hour ceasefire: Pakistani Government

Who is Noor Wali Mehsud?

Noor Wali Mehsud, also referred to as Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud and Abu Zar Azzam, is listed beneath the United Nations Security Council’s ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List. He was appointed chief of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in June 2018 following the loss of life of the group’s earlier chief, Maulana Fazlullah.

According to the United Nations’ itemizing, the TTP beneath Mehsud’s management has been chargeable for quite a few assaults inside Pakistan, concentrating on safety personnel, authorities installations, and civilian areas. The TTP is claimed to be sustaining hyperlinks with Al-Qaeda and operates in coordination with a number of different regional terrorist organisations. The group has been accused of orchestrating cross-border assaults from bases located in jap Afghanistan.

The UN narrative abstract information that, as of November 26, 2022, Mehsud was positioned in Lamman, District Barmal, Paktika Province, Afghanistan. It additional states that he was listed pursuant to United Nations Security Council resolutions for “taking part within the financing, planning, facilitating, or perpetrating of acts or actions” in help of Al-Qaeda and related entities.

Mehsud, born in South Waziristan, is described in UN information as a Pakistani nationwide who has served as a non secular scholar and creator of Inqilab Mehsud South Waziristan: From British Raj to American Imperialism, a textual content usually cited in reference to the TTP’s ideological positions. His management is characterised within the UN abstract as having consolidated numerous militant factions beneath the TTP’s umbrella and re-established its organisational construction after earlier army operations by Pakistan had dispersed its networks.

The UN committee first listed Mehsud on July 16, 2020, and final up to date its narrative abstract on December 13, 2023. He stays topic to a world asset freeze, journey ban, and arms embargo beneath Security Council sanctions relevant to people and entities related to ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaeda.

What occurred in Kabul?

Pakistani safety officers stated that an airstrike on October 9 in Kabul focused an armoured car believed to be carrying Mehsud. Islamabad has not issued an official assertion claiming accountability for the strike, whereas Afghanistan’s Taliban administration denied the presence of Pakistani militants on its soil. The airstrike marked Pakistan’s first reported operation inside Kabul for the reason that 2022 U.S. drone strike that killed al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Following the strike, cross-border exchanges of fireside have been reported between Afghan and Pakistani forces over a number of days earlier than each side lowered hostilities. Mehsud later appeared in a video message launched on-line, confirming that he was alive. The scenario alongside the frontier stays tense, with safety forces in each nations sustaining an elevated presence in affected areas.

The airstrikes and subsequent exchanges of fireside have resulted in casualties on each side of the Afghan–Pakistan border and briefly disrupted civilian motion throughout a number of frontier districts. Security forces in each nations stay on alert, and border areas in Khost, Paktika, and North Waziristan have reported intermittent shelling since October 9.