ISLAMABAD: The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan is expanding beyond Pakistan's borders with chapters emerging in Bangladesh, India and Indian occupied Kashmir, and the world needs to take note, a counterterrorism analyst has warned.
Speaking on Pakistan TV Digital's South Speaks with Saqib, Khorasan Diary’s Digital Editor Kiran Butt said the group has evolved significantly since the Afghan Taliban's 2021 takeover, absorbing more than 100 smaller outfits and acquiring advanced equipment, even as international attention has drifted elsewhere.
"They are expanding, they are evolving," Butt said, pointing to the emergence of what she described as Tehreek-e-Taliban Hindustan and an Indian occupied Kashmir chapter alongside the group's traditional Pakistan focus.
She said the Afghan Taliban's return to power transformed TTP's reach. "When the US was in Afghanistan, their operational or their funding level was very limited. But since the Taliban have come... now they have more operational and ground stronghold based in Afghanistan," she said, adding that instructions now flow from Afghan soil to foot soldiers inside Pakistan.
Butt said the group now has thermal vision weapons and drone jammers, and that more than 100 small and large groups have merged with TTP across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan over roughly five years.
On financing, Butt said TTP draws on extortion, misdirected charitable donations and external backing, and has used cryptocurrency since at least 2024.
On Indian support for TTP, Butt said Islamabad has submitted evidence to the UN Security Council. Skeptics who consider Pakistan biased could consult UN reporting, she said, which documents indirect funding to militant outfits operating from Afghan soil.
Butt said the war on terror has not ended but changed shape.
"The war on terror has not ended, but it's getting intensified. It's expanding. It's changing. It's evolving," she said, noting UN reports remain alarming even as coverage of Afghanistan has receded since the Iran-US war began.
She said Pakistan remains the most affected country and is largely fighting alone, reporting around 10 terrorist incidents daily.
Neighboring states including China, Tajikistan and Iran face border skirmishes, she said, but not internal militancy at comparable intensity.
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