Transcript [00:00] Well, believe it or not, not everything [00:01] that happens in the Middle East has to [00:03] do with Israel and or even Iran. [00:07] What I want to do in this video is talk [00:09] about Pakistan and Afghanistan and [00:11] something that is going on there. U I've [00:14] done this before where I take you to [00:16] some other part of the Middle East and [00:18] just explain what's going on in a [00:19] certain country, some political issue or [00:21] some flare up that's happening just to [00:23] give us the bigger picture. Some of you [00:24] who've been with this channel a while [00:26] will remember that I once did a video [00:28] about everything going on in Morocco. [00:30] Very important video that was between [00:33] Morocco and uh and its neighboring [00:34] countries. Well, in this video, like I [00:36] said, we're going to take a look at [00:38] something that happened in Pakistan [00:39] because there was a big news item that [00:41] sort of came out of left field and made [00:42] me say, you know what, I should make a [00:44] video about this. So, here we go. Here's [00:46] the here's the headline from just the [00:48] other day. Pakistan suicide bombing [00:50] death toll rises to at least 31. That's [00:54] a big suicide bombing. More than a [00:57] hundred others have been injured in the [00:58] militant attack on a police headquarters [01:01] near the border with Afghanistan. [01:03] Several militants were still clashing [01:06] with Pakistan security forces on [01:08] Saturday. Okay. So, this was a pretty [01:11] serious suicide bombing and uh so let's [01:16] let's understand what is going on here. [01:18] Okay. I'm going to make this smaller. [01:21] Um I'm going to make this a little [01:23] smaller for a while while I talk to you. [01:25] So, this happened on Friday. This past [01:27] Friday, September 18th. It was a car [01:29] packed with explosives and it rammed [01:31] into the entrance of a mosque in the [01:34] city of Kohhat in northwestern Pakistan. [01:38] right as worshippers were gathering for [01:40] Friday prayers. Now, this wasn't just [01:42] any mosque as you saw from what I just [01:44] read there. It is a mosque that is [01:46] inside a police headquarters compound. [01:48] And some of the headlines, if some of [01:50] you saw headlines about this, you might [01:52] have seen it as an attack on a mosque. [01:54] And that's what first raised eyebrows [01:55] for me. I was like, "Wait a second, why [01:56] is a mosque getting attacked?" And then [01:58] when I read that it was a police [01:59] headquarters, it started to make a [02:01] little more sense. As you will see by [02:03] the end of this video, it'll all make [02:05] sense to you what happened here. So [02:07] after the blast, armed militants stormed [02:09] the complex. Uh the gun battle follow [02:12] that followed lasted through the [02:14] weekend. By the time it was over, as you [02:15] see, at least 31 are dead. There's [02:17] probably more. The death toll is [02:18] probably going to rise because there's a [02:20] lot of seriously uh wounded. [02:23] 16 of the dead are police officers and [02:26] more than 100 others wounded. Right? [02:28] That's what we have there. [02:30] So, a local faction called Itahad [02:35] Mujahedin Pakistan claimed [02:37] responsibility. And if that name means [02:38] nothing to you, don't worry. That's [02:41] exactly why I'm making this video [02:42] because that faction is closely tied to [02:45] something called the TTP or Tariq [02:48] Taliban Pakistan. Okay? It's also just [02:51] known as Pakistani Taliban. Now, if your [02:54] first reaction is, "Oh, that's the [02:56] Taliban like the guys in Afghanistan." [02:59] Sort of. It's related to it [03:02] historically and ideologically, but it [03:04] is not the same organization. And once [03:06] you understand how it's related and how [03:08] it's different, this bombing will be a [03:10] lot less confusing and we'll start to [03:12] understand what's going on in this [03:14] corner of the region. So that's what I [03:16] want to do today. I want to build the [03:17] whole picture for you piece by piece. [03:20] what the Afghan Taliban is, what the TTP [03:23] or Pakistani Taliban is, how the two are [03:26] connected, where their ideology comes [03:29] from, and how all of that is actually [03:32] very different from ISIS and al-Qaeda [03:34] ideology. They're all jihadists, right? [03:37] We just we tend to just lump all of [03:38] these groups together into like jihadist [03:40] Islamic terrorism. Uh [03:44] but but that's not but that's not really [03:46] accurate. And then after I explain all [03:49] of the relationships here and who these [03:50] people are and their ideologies, we'll [03:52] come back to this event that took place [03:54] in Kohhat and you'll see exactly why [03:56] they hit that target in that way and why [04:00] it's happening now. Okay. So, let's [04:01] start with the Afghan Taliban because [04:03] that's the one that everyone already has [04:05] some picture of in their head. You know, [04:06] the guys in their pajamas and sandals [04:08] and out in Afghanistan who took over. [04:10] And we have to also remember, by the [04:12] way, when we're talking about [04:13] Afghanistan, it's so it it seems sort of [04:15] like so off the radar for us so much of [04:18] the time because it's, you know, it it's [04:21] not in the headlines so much and it's [04:22] certainly not part of the current [04:23] conflicts that we're in. But we have to [04:26] remember that Afghanistan is a huge huge [04:28] country. It's massive. Just take a look [04:31] at a map of the entire region here and [04:34] look like here's Iraq, Jordan, Saudi [04:36] Arabia. Like Iran is huge. [04:39] Iran's massive, but look how big [04:41] Afghanistan is. It's a very large [04:44] country. I mean, Iraq, when you're [04:46] talking about the Israel, Jordan, Syria, [04:48] Lebanon, Iraq part of the world, Iraq is [04:51] by far the largest country there. And [04:52] then you have Saudi Arabia that's huge. [04:54] But Afghanistan's even bigger. [04:56] Afghanistan is a very big country and [04:57] has this long border with Pakistan. [05:01] Okay? It also borders a whole bunch of [05:02] other countries, the other stands up [05:04] here and China. And of course, it has a [05:07] significant border with Iran. [05:09] And somehow they've they've not been in [05:11] the headlines at all throughout this [05:12] whole conflict. And uh we're going to [05:15] try to understand who these people are, [05:17] okay? And why they why they carried out [05:19] that attack. But here, this red marker [05:21] is is uh is right next to where that [05:24] attack took place. It's actually it's [05:26] going to come up later in the video. [05:27] There were two attacks recently in the [05:29] last uh week or so that took place just [05:32] right next to each other. We'll get to [05:34] the second one much later in the video. [05:36] Okay, so you got that. That's all [05:39] hopefully that's all that's all pretty [05:41] clear and now we're ready to learn. [05:43] Okay, here we go. Afghan Taliban. So [05:47] what do they believe? So the Afghan [05:49] Taliban project is a national project, [05:53] a national project. Their goal is to [05:56] rule Afghanistan according to their [05:58] interpretation of Sharia law inside [06:01] Afghanistan's borders. When I say it's a [06:04] national project, this is very important [06:06] because they're not trying to conquer [06:07] the region or export jihad to the rest [06:10] of the world. That's a different [06:12] ideology. We'll get into that soon. They [06:15] took Kabul [06:17] in 1996. They then lost it in 2001. They [06:21] then, of course, took it back famously [06:23] in 2021. And through all of that, the [06:26] goal has stayed the same. They want to [06:27] control the state of Afghanistan. And [06:29] increasingly they want to get the rest [06:31] of the world to formally recognize them [06:34] as the state's legitimate government. [06:36] Now that last part matters more than [06:38] people realize. The Taliban is not ISIS [06:41] who like doesn't care what the world [06:42] thinks of them. The Taliban wants [06:44] diplomatic relationships. It wants [06:46] recognition from China, from Russia, [06:48] from the Gulf States. It wants to be [06:50] treated like a country. And it's a [06:52] different kind of ambition than than [06:54] we're used to when we talk about jihad. [06:57] And it's going to matter in a few [06:58] minutes when we get when we get into how [07:01] ISIS and al-Qaeda see them. [07:05] Okay. Now, the TTP, that is the [07:09] Pakistani version of Taliban, is a [07:11] completely different organization. Even [07:14] though the name makes it sound like it's [07:16] a branch office, it's a totally [07:18] different organization. It was formed in [07:20] 2007 and it formed as an umbrella group [07:25] specifically to fight the Pakistani [07:28] state. An umbrella group of a bunch of [07:29] little militias. They got together and [07:31] their goal is to overthrow Pakistan. [07:34] Their goal has nothing to do with [07:36] Afghanistan at all. It's overthrowing [07:38] the democratic government of Pakistan [07:40] and replacing it with its own version of [07:44] Sharia law of an Islamic emirate in its [07:47] image. So right away you can see [07:50] the similarity and and and uh between [07:53] these two Taliban groups and also how [07:55] they're different. The Afghan Taliban [07:57] looks inward at Afghanistan. They want [07:59] to control Afghanistan. The TTP looks [08:02] inward at Pakistan. Two different [08:04] countries, two different governments [08:05] that they're trying to topple. I mean in [08:06] Afghanistan they successfully toppled [08:08] it. Like they control the country now. [08:10] Okay. So why does everyone call them [08:13] Pakistani Taliban at all if they're a [08:15] totally separate group with a separate [08:16] goal? Because the bond between them is [08:19] very real and it runs deep. Both [08:22] movements came out of the same religious [08:24] and ideological tradition. It's [08:27] something called doandhi Islam. Yes [08:31] indeed, there's another branch of Islam, [08:33] Dioandi Islam. I'll get into it in a [08:35] minute. And the TTP leadership has [08:38] historically pledged personal spiritual [08:41] allegiance, what's called Baya, to the [08:44] Supreme Leader of the Afghan Taliban. [08:46] Now, why would a group fighting a [08:48] completely different war swear personal [08:50] loyalty to someone else's leader? I just [08:52] told you they're different [08:53] organizations. Well, because in this in [08:56] this Dioandi tradition, that pledge [08:58] isn't treated as a political alliance. [09:01] It has to do with a religious [09:02] obligation. But they are separate [09:04] organizations because they are [09:07] nationalists. They want one group wants [09:09] Pakistan, one group wants Afghanistan. [09:12] So recognizing the Afghan Taliban's [09:15] leader as their senior religious [09:16] authority for their movement. Uh it also [09:19] gives them the kind of legitimacy within [09:21] their own tradition even though they're [09:24] they have this their own war against [09:26] Pakistan. I hope that's not too [09:27] confusing, but just set that aside for a [09:29] moment. [09:31] They're they are close with each other. [09:33] They they they have an alliance that was [09:36] forged in combat because they have [09:37] fought side by side. They're not totally [09:39] separate in that they like have nothing [09:40] to do with each other. During the years [09:42] of American and NATO presence in [09:44] Afghanistan, the TTP gave the Afghan [09:48] Taliban safe havens [09:51] um and and logistics and fighters to [09:53] help them fight Western forces, the [09:55] shared enemy. [09:57] And when the Afghan Taliban swept back [09:59] into Kabul in 2021, the TTP was was an [10:03] ally in that victory. And so they have [10:07] they have loyalty to each other. They [10:09] have a good relationship. They fought [10:11] side by side for 20 years. But here's [10:12] where it gets complicated and where the [10:15] current crisis actually comes from. [10:19] Think about the goals. The Afghan [10:21] Taliban's goal is to take over [10:23] Afghanistan, turn it into a Sharia state [10:26] in their in according to their ideology [10:28] and gain recognition as a state from [10:32] neighboring countries. So the Afghan [10:34] Taliban takes over Afghanistan. [10:37] They become the government [10:40] and now their interests are not aligned [10:42] with the TTPs because they want to have [10:45] a relationship with Pakistan. It's a [10:47] neighboring country. So Pakistan is now [10:50] accusing the Afghan Taliban of helping [10:54] the TTP, of sheltering thousands of TTP [10:57] fighters inside Afghan territory, giving [11:00] them a safe haven to plan and launch [11:02] attacks across the border into Pakistan [11:04] and then retreat back into Afghanistan [11:07] safely. That's what Pakistan is has been [11:09] accusing at the Afghani government, the [11:13] Taliban in Afghanistan of doing. Kabul, [11:16] the Afghanis, they deny all of it and [11:19] instead they're always telling the [11:20] Pakistanis that this is Pakistan's own [11:22] internal problem. The TPP, the TTP is [11:25] your problem. You got to solve it [11:26] through negotiation, not through [11:28] military force. Leave us out of it. [11:31] So [11:33] you could ask the question, why doesn't [11:34] the Afghan Taliban just crack down on [11:37] their old ally in the interests of [11:39] having a better relationship with [11:40] Pakistan? Well, two reasons, [11:43] very practical ones. First of all, if [11:46] the Afghan Taliban would move against [11:48] TTP fighters, they don't really want to [11:51] anyway, but they have but but it might [11:53] be in their best interest to do so. But [11:54] why don't they do it? If they did it, a [11:56] lot of analysts believe that those [11:58] hardened militants [12:00] would simp those guys in the TTP would [12:03] simply go into an area called the ISIS [12:08] Corusan Province. [12:10] Okay? Or ISIS K. You ever heard of ISIS [12:13] K? Remember them? Ooh, you're probably [12:16] thinking that, wait a second, isn't ISIS [12:19] finished? Aren't they gone? It's not. [12:22] ISIS lost its physical caliphate uh in [12:26] Syria and Iraq back in 2019 during the [12:28] first Trump administration, but the [12:30] organization itself never disappeared. [12:33] It splintered into a network of regional [12:35] branches or provinces that are still [12:38] active today across multiple countries. [12:40] So, there's still ISIS controlled areas. [12:43] Oh, yeah. [12:44] And ISIS K, the K stands for Corusan, is [12:47] an old historical name for a province [12:50] there. It's a and it operates in [12:52] Afghanistan and Pakistan. So ISIS K [12:55] still has territory. So if the Afghani [12:57] Taliban went after the the TTP, they [13:02] would retreat into ISIS K territory as a [13:05] safe haven and ISIS K would probably [13:07] grant it to them [13:10] because ISIS K is fine with the TTP [13:14] going after the Pakistani government. [13:16] Okay, I know that sounds a little weird. [13:19] Don't worry, this will make more sense [13:21] as we go. [13:23] So ISIS K is the Afghan Taliban's mortal [13:27] enemy. [13:29] Okay. ISIS K considers the Taliban too [13:32] soft, too diplomatic. [13:35] They feel that they've, you know, they [13:37] believe that that the Taliban have kind [13:39] of betrayed the true goals of Islam by [13:42] only seeking to have their own country [13:45] and not seeking global dominance. [13:49] And if the TTP would retreat into ISIS K [13:53] territory, ISISK would probably welcome [13:54] them in [13:56] and that would strengthen ISIS K and [13:58] it's the last thing the Afghan Taliban [14:00] would want to do. The second reason why [14:03] the Afghan Taliban would would never go [14:05] after the TTP is that [14:09] even though they're always telling the [14:10] Pakistanis, oh, it's not our fault, it's [14:12] not us, you deal with the problem, they [14:15] have a lopsided relationship with [14:16] Pakistan. Pakistan has all the money and [14:18] the and the strong military and the [14:20] recognition and the TTP is one of the [14:22] only cards that Kabul actually holds [14:25] over, you know, that the that the [14:28] Taliban actually in in Afghanistan [14:30] actually holds over the Pakistanis [14:34] and they kind of like having that [14:35] leverage having, you know, that the [14:37] Pakistanis need their help with [14:38] something. So there's political reasons [14:41] why they they're not necessarily going [14:42] to rein them in and also there's the [14:44] shared ideology that they have with [14:46] them. [14:48] Um [14:49] okay [14:52] now this has this has led even to [14:54] Pakistan launching strikes into [14:56] Afghanistan [14:59] like air strikes [15:02] and you know wanting to go to war over [15:05] getting rid of the of the TTP. So this [15:08] is this is a it's it's a bit of a sticky [15:10] situation. Now before we go on [15:14] before we go on uh I want to remind you [15:16] about the very exciting trip that we're [15:18] running in March with Dr. David Worms [15:22] and it is March 7th through 14th [15:27] the Israel behind the headlines tour. [15:29] Eight days with the people making the [15:30] decisions private meetings at the [15:32] Knesset briefings on the Syrian and [15:33] Lebanese borders. lunch with leaders in [15:36] in of communities in Samaria and the [15:38] Golan, including the Drews community and [15:41] uh other communities. We're gonna we're [15:43] going to be meeting with with prominent [15:45] journalists. This is the Israel that [15:47] shapes the news before the news reports [15:49] it and you will see it with the people [15:50] who live it. This is a five-star luxury [15:54] trip, eight days and uh led by myself [15:58] and Dr. David Worms and it is going to [16:00] be an exclusive trip. We're keeping it [16:02] small, under 20 people. So there's [16:04] limited space available. There are [16:05] already people are signing up. Click the [16:07] link in the description of the video if [16:09] you are interested in exploring this [16:11] very exciting possibility. [16:15] Okay, let's get back to the [16:17] conversation. Just wanted to a little [16:20] plug for that. Okay, so where does all [16:23] the shared ideology come from? Now let's [16:26] get into what these people actually [16:28] believe because I haven't I haven't [16:29] really explained this to you. like what [16:30] makes them different from al-Qaeda and [16:33] ISIS and the other jihadists and are [16:34] they Sunnis? Are the Shiites? Okay, [16:39] this is where D Oandi Islam comes from. [16:44] And again, if you're wondering why are [16:45] they different from ISIS and al-Qaeda, [16:47] we will get there. But in order to [16:50] understand the difference between them, [16:52] you have to first understand this piece [16:53] first. This is where it all starts. [16:56] Dioandi Islam takes its name from a town [16:58] called Dioand. It's in northern India. [17:01] And there was a group of Islamic [17:03] scholars who founded a seminary in 1866. [17:09] And this was right after a failed [17:10] uprising against British colonial rule [17:12] that happened in the late 1850s. So [17:15] these Islamic scholars were asking [17:17] themselves, [17:18] how do we preserve Islamic identity and [17:21] practice when we no longer control the [17:24] state and we're living under non-Muslim [17:27] colonial domination? [17:29] And their answer was to turn inward to [17:31] build a network of religious schools, [17:33] madrasas that would train scholars to [17:36] preserve strict orthodox Islamic [17:38] learning completely independent of the [17:41] government of the colonial government [17:42] and its institutions. [17:45] Theologically, Dioandis follow what's [17:48] called the Hanafi School of Islamic law. [17:50] It's one of the four major schools of in [17:52] Sunni Islam. So, they are Sunnis and [17:55] they lean toward a strict uh austere [17:59] very textual literal reading of the [18:01] faith partly as a direct reaction [18:04] against what its founders saw as [18:05] religious laxity and the corrupting [18:08] cultural influence of the British. So [18:09] this in this way it's similar to the [18:11] Muslim Brotherhood but it's different. [18:15] Now from that single seminary in India [18:20] the this movement this uh doandhi [18:23] movement grew into a massive [18:25] transnational network of madrasas of [18:29] religious schools across South Asia [18:31] especially in Pakistan and Afghanistan [18:33] and that growth exploded starting in the [18:35] 1980s. [18:37] So this is like over a hundred years [18:40] after it was first founded and it was [18:43] fueled by Gulf money and by Pakistan's [18:45] own use of these religious networks to [18:47] help organize the fight against the [18:49] Soviets in Afghanistan. [18:52] Okay, so that's the direct link to our [18:54] story. Many of the Afghan of the Afghani [18:57] Taliban leaders including the movement's [19:00] founder Mulla Omar were literally [19:02] educated in Dioandi Madras along the [19:05] Pakistan Afghanistan border in the 1980s [19:08] and 90s. The Afghan Taliban and the TTP [19:12] didn't just develop similar ideas [19:15] independently. They came out of the same [19:17] school. They're products of the same [19:18] school in a manner of speaking. So that [19:21] shared educational and theological [19:24] lineage is why these two organizations [19:26] despite having different national uh [19:29] goals, [19:31] one is to control Afghanistan, one is to [19:34] topple the government in Pakistan, they [19:37] they see themselves as part of the same [19:39] religious family. Now an important [19:41] caveat because I don't want I don't want [19:42] to I don't want anyone walking away from [19:44] this with the wrong idea. [19:47] The overwhelming majority of the Obandis [19:49] worldwide, including millions of them in [19:53] India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the UK [19:56] have absolutely nothing to do with any [19:58] of this. It's not like Muslim [19:59] Brotherhood Islam where the whole [20:01] ideology and organization is all [20:03] oriented towards jihad. And the more [20:05] militant part is, you know, uh, is, you [20:08] know, the more violent part is maybe [20:09] Boka Haram and and ISIS and al-Qaeda, [20:12] but even even the mosques all over the [20:14] world are somehow part of that. That's [20:16] not true with the deal bondis. A lot of [20:18] them are just really really have nothing [20:20] to do with any of this stuff. And they [20:22] have even explicitly and repeatedly [20:24] condemned terrorism and distanced [20:26] themselves from the ideology of the [20:28] Afghan and Pakistani Taliban. Okay. What [20:31] we're talking about here is a small [20:32] radicalized slice of a much larger [20:36] tradition that a handful of of these [20:39] guys have weaponized and turned into [20:41] something bigger. So in Afghanistan, the [20:42] Taliban is now a big thing. But I just [20:45] wanted to be precise about this. Okay. [20:48] Finally, let's hold them up next to ISIS [20:50] and al-Qaeda and explain the differences [20:53] because again for people like us, we [20:54] tend to just treat all of these groups [20:56] as inter in this as part of this [20:58] interchangeable blob of jihadists [21:01] and that could lead us to make bad [21:03] analysis and think that certain things [21:06] are connected that aren't. [21:08] The Taliban and the TTP are dio as I [21:12] just explained. They're rooted in South [21:14] Asia. They're tied to a specific [21:16] regional religious culture and a [21:18] specific school of law and you and [21:20] politically speaking they want to [21:22] control those countries. Al-Qaeda and [21:25] ISIS come from a completely different [21:27] lineage. They're from the Salafi school [21:31] a and it's a movement that actually [21:33] rejects the traditional all the [21:34] traditional schools of Islamic law [21:36] altogether in favor of what it claims is [21:38] a pure return to the practice of the [21:41] earliest generation of Muslims. Al Qaeda [21:44] blends that Salafi orientation with [21:47] revolutionary political theory that [21:49] developed out of Egypt in the founding [21:51] of the Muslim Brotherhood uh from from [21:55] you know thinker thinkers like Sedub [22:00] ISIS pushed an even more extreme version [22:03] of that same current. So ISIS and [22:05] al-Qaeda they're coming out of Muslim [22:06] Brotherhood and the theological [22:08] difference produces a very real [22:10] practical difference. [22:12] For example, the Taliban and the TTP are [22:15] nationalists. Rule Afghanistan, [22:18] overthrow Pakistan. That's it. That's [22:20] the whole game. And that's why you don't [22:22] see the Afgh, you know, the Taliban, [22:26] you know, and, you know, becoming like a [22:28] state sponsor of terrorism elsewhere in [22:30] the world even though they have a [22:31] country or or expressing a view on the [22:36] Iranian regime or on they're not they [22:39] don't have those global goals. Meaning [22:42] like the the 12 Rashiites who run the [22:44] the regime in Tehran have a global goal. [22:47] They want to bring the apocalypse and [22:48] bring the Madi. The Sunni Muslim [22:51] Brotherhoods, they have a global goal. [22:53] They want to eliminate all borders and [22:55] create the whole world is one big [22:57] caliphate, [22:59] right? Al Qaeda's founding purpose is [23:02] uniting Muslims worldwide against the [23:05] West. [23:07] That's the Muslim Brotherhood's purpose. [23:09] ISIS took that further, declaring a [23:12] borderless caliphate in 2014, treating [23:15] national borders themselves as [23:17] illegitimate. [23:19] Okay. Another difference between the [23:22] these Taliban guys and ISIS and [23:25] al-Qaeda, which is how far they take a [23:27] concept called takir, and that takir is [23:30] the practice of declaring other Muslims [23:33] apostates in order to justify killing [23:35] them. [23:36] So the Taliban and the TTP only apply [23:39] that label to state actors, which means [23:43] soldiers, police, government officials [23:46] who work for the system that they [23:47] consider illegitimate and unislamic. [23:50] ISIS applies takir far more broadly and [23:54] systematically, including Shia Muslims [23:56] as a matter of core doctrine, which is [23:59] why ISIS and its regional franchise, [24:01] ISIS K, have carried out mass casualty [24:04] attacks on Shia mosques and shrines. [24:06] They have they have much less of a [24:08] problem killing civilians in countries [24:10] that they want to destabilize and take [24:12] over. And that's not what the Afghan [24:15] Taliban has made central to its [24:17] campaign. [24:18] It's not that they're nice guys, okay? [24:20] I'm just pointing out the difference [24:21] here and it'll it'll help us understand [24:23] this terrorist attack. [24:27] And third thing, as I mentioned earlier, [24:29] the Taliban actually wants to be a [24:31] normal state. They want to have borders. [24:33] They want to have an army. They want to [24:34] have diplomatic recognition. ISIS K [24:38] consider and ISIS in general considers [24:40] that goal a betrayal of Islam. They [24:43] consider it proof that the Taliban is [24:45] soft [24:47] and that they and that they've dropped [24:48] the real goal of Islam, which is the [24:50] global governance [24:52] and they've actually fought each other [24:54] directly. [24:58] So the TTP fits into this picture as the [25:01] Afghan Taliban's ally through shared [25:04] Dioandi lineage and ideology and decades [25:08] of fighting side by side. But neither of [25:11] them have anything to do with al-Qaeda [25:13] and ISIS and that global project. Okay, [25:16] let's now go back to Kohhat. Kohhat, the [25:19] place where this terrorist attack took [25:22] place. [25:24] Let me pull it up again on the screen. [25:27] Here is Kohhat. [25:30] Kohhat. [25:32] Let's get in there. [25:35] Here's Kohhat right here. Right smack in [25:37] the middle of the of the map. This is [25:39] Kohhat. Okay, let me pull back and [25:42] you'll see where it is. It's right here. [25:43] Right in this area. See right by the [25:45] Afghani border. Right here. This is [25:47] Kohhat. [25:49] Okay. [25:51] So now [25:53] what happened there? [25:58] Sorry, I just had to cough [26:00] because now now that you have the whole [26:02] framework, everything will make sense. [26:04] This was not a sectarian attack in the [26:06] ISIS case sense. Cuz when you say when [26:08] you say to yourself, "Wait a second. Why [26:09] are Muslims attacking a mosque?" [26:12] They weren't targeting worshippers [26:13] because of their religious identity. [26:15] Remember what I said at the beginning. [26:17] 16 of the 31 people killed were police [26:20] officers and the mosque itself was [26:22] inside a police headquarters compound. [26:25] It was the target was security forces of [26:28] the state and it happened to be that [26:30] there was a mosque there. [26:33] And this this uses the TTP's takir [26:36] logic. These these people were [26:38] legitimate targets because they work for [26:40] the Pakistani state, police, soldiers, [26:43] government workers. They're labeled as [26:46] apostates and they're treated. So [26:48] they're legitimate targets regardless of [26:50] the fact that they're fellow Muslims [26:51] praying on a Friday. [26:54] And there's a strategic message behind [26:56] hitting a target like that specifically [26:58] because storming a police headquarters, [27:00] including by some reports fighting their [27:02] way into the section that handles [27:04] intelligence work, is a deliberate [27:07] demonstration that the state can't [27:08] protect, can't even protect its own [27:10] security forces inside their own [27:12] compound. [27:13] Right? That's the whole point. [27:16] groups like this want to expose part of [27:18] their ideology, but also part of their [27:20] politics and their terrorism is that [27:22] they want to expose these governments as [27:25] weak and unable to keep order because [27:27] that's how you chip away at the public [27:29] trust in a state that you're trying to [27:32] overthrow. Got it? So now now I want to [27:35] be honest about something because the [27:36] TTP's own framing which is we only [27:39] target the state is it's sort of it's [27:42] it's kind of sloppy self-serving [27:44] propaganda in a way because remember [27:46] what this was. This was a car bomb [27:49] followed by a gun battle in a crowded [27:51] mosque compound. That's not exactly a [27:54] surgical strike on only government [27:56] officials. Okay. Whatever the stated [27:58] intent was, ordinary worshippers, family [28:01] members, people who had nothing to do [28:02] with the police were almost certainly [28:04] among the casualties too. So the, you [28:07] know, the distinction between this and [28:09] ISIS K's attacks is about doctrine and [28:11] stated target, right? It it doesn't mean [28:14] that this was a a bloodless operation [28:18] against non-ivilians. Now, two more [28:20] details [28:22] to tie this straight back to everything [28:23] that we've just covered. First, the [28:26] investigators identified the suicide [28:28] bomber as an Afghan national. [28:31] Think about that now. Oh, this is the [28:34] Pakistani Taliban in Pakistan and the [28:37] investigators said it was an Afghan [28:38] national. Given given everything that [28:40] we've just discussed about Pakistan's [28:42] accusation that the Afghan Taliban is [28:45] sheltering the TTP across the border and [28:49] calling them out and telling them that [28:51] they they they have to reign them in. [28:52] That detail matters to the Pakistanis. [28:56] It's it's one thing to claim that TTP [28:58] fighters retreat into af into across the [29:01] border into Afghanistan [29:03] as a safe haven. And it's another thing [29:05] entirely when the actual trigger man was [29:09] Afghani in the first place. So from a [29:12] from the perspective of the Pakistanis [29:14] that's evidence of crossborder support. [29:18] Now the timing is also important here [29:21] because there was another incident and I [29:23] mentioned this very briefly at the [29:24] beginning of this video that there was [29:26] another incident and this because this [29:29] attack which made bigger head the f the [29:31] attack that we've been talking about [29:32] with the 31 dead made bigger headlines [29:35] but there's a lot of stuff that goes on [29:36] in the Middle East that people don't [29:37] hear about much and this is the Pakistan [29:40] edition of Arab news and this is from a [29:42] week earlier. [29:46] Okay, this is from a week earlier. [29:48] Roadside bomb kills six soldiers in [29:50] Pakistan as troop as troops kill 10 [29:54] militants in multiple raids. Well, not [29:56] not a full week earlier. Three day uh [29:59] three days earlier, a roadside bomb [30:01] struck security forces convoy in [30:03] northwest Pakistan, [30:06] killing six soldiers while government [30:08] troops conducted raids, resulting in the [30:10] deaths of militants believed to be [30:11] members of Pakistani Taliban. [30:14] The bombing occurred in Oh, Thursday. [30:16] Sorry. So, it's two days before or the [30:18] day before. Sorry, I got this wrong. [30:20] It's just the day before. So, whatever [30:21] these are, but these are these are [30:24] attacks that came one right after the [30:26] other. That's the point. It's a I just [30:29] lost I lost track of what date it is [30:31] today. The bombing occurred in Thursday [30:32] in Hangu, a district in Kyber. So, how [30:35] how close are those two? They're right [30:37] next to each other. Take a look. This is [30:39] Kohhat that I just showed you, but look [30:41] how close they are. So, Kohhat [30:45] [snorts] [30:47] is here and Hungu is right here. They're [30:50] right next to each other. See, they're [30:52] literally side by side and they're both [30:54] right next to this u this border here. [30:57] Okay. So, this this roadside bomb killed [31:01] six Pakistani soldiers. [31:04] And [31:06] and meanwhile, you have this whole thing [31:08] going on. there's this whole other thing [31:09] going on where there are diplomatic [31:11] efforts by Turkey and Qatar to try to [31:14] get the Afghan you know to try to calm [31:17] down the border tension between Pakistan [31:20] and Afghanistan [31:21] and uh [31:24] you know so this is all this is all [31:25] going on at the same time and given what [31:27] we've covered earlier uh that the Afghan [31:31] Taliban has incentives not to reign in [31:33] the TTP even if they could you know keep [31:37] all that in mind So that's the whole [31:39] picture put together. This is so this is [31:41] not one big undifferentiated Islamic [31:43] terrorism story. It's a very specific [31:46] regional nationalist Dioandi rooted uh [31:50] attack. [31:52] Uh and it use again it uses a different [31:55] ideology from the global ISIS or or the [32:00] ter or the regime in tan. That's what I [32:02] wanted to uh to to share with you today. [32:06] And we want to understand how to read [32:07] things correctly. That's the point. Now, [32:10] if we if we pause now for a sec and and [32:13] with this, I'm going to wrap up and just [32:16] ask ourselves, what does this have to do [32:18] with the Iran situation? The answer is [32:19] nothing. The answer is absolutely [32:22] nothing. Uh I know that like what do you [32:24] mean? It has to have something to do [32:25] with it. No, Iran has no relationship [32:27] with these guys really and and they stay [32:29] out of it. They've got their own agenda. [32:32] But but the important piece here I think [32:34] in a bigger picture is that [32:37] there are [32:39] these ideologies and these groups who [32:42] are controlling whole swaths of this [32:44] region. They're not just going to go [32:46] away. They have to be actually dealt [32:49] with. And this is just one more example [32:52] of a power. It's just like the Saudis [32:54] with the Houthis [32:56] that you have this powerful army, this [32:58] powerful military, the Pakistanis, and [32:59] they're simply unwilling to go deal with [33:02] their enemies properly and get rid [33:04] [clears throat] of them. [33:06] And part of it is also that they they [33:08] don't part of it is that they don't [33:10] really have a will to fight. But there's [33:11] also this problem that these these [33:14] Muslim states [33:16] have to decide, do they want to live [33:18] with all of these jihadists who are [33:19] destabilizing them [33:22] forever into the future or do they want [33:24] to actually bite the bullet and go ahead [33:26] and deal with them. So that's the way it [33:27] connects. But I just wanted to share [33:29] this story with you. I hope it uh hope [33:31] it helps you understand a bizarre [33:33] headline about a bombing in Pakistan. [33:35] All right, God bless.
