The Pakistani version of the Taliban, founded in 2007. The TTP is active in Pakistan's northern tribal areas and is the country's most pressing militant threat. Peak militancy in Pakistan ran from the TTP's founding in 2007 to 2014.
Noor Wali Mehsud is the leader of the TTP. In October 2025, Pakistan launched air strikes on Kabul targeting Mehsud—his presence in Afghanistan's capital hints at deepening ties between the TTP and the ruling Afghan Taliban.
Violence from the TTP is concentrated in the former tribal areas and the southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province whose government is led by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the party of Imran Khan. According to the Centre for Research and Security Studies, a Pakistani think-tank, 2025 is on track to be deadlier than 2024, which was the most violent year in a decade.
A recurring cycle of violence has emerged along the 2,600km Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The TTP attacks inside Pakistan; Pakistan demands the Afghan Taliban strike TTP sanctuaries; the Taliban refuse; Pakistan launches air strikes into Afghanistan; the Taliban retaliate; fighting erupts and subsides. The fiercest round came on October 11th 2025, when fighting broke out in at least seven places. Pakistan said it killed more than 200 TTP members; over 20 Pakistani soldiers died. A 48-hour ceasefire was agreed on October 15th.
On March 16th 2026 a Pakistani airstrike on the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul—near which "very legitimate military targets" were located, according to Christopher Clary of the University at Albany—killed at least 143 people. It was the deadliest single strike since the conflict escalated.
"First things first -- but not necessarily in that order"