The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) insurgents have stepped up attacks on the Pakistani troops in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provinces, respectively, in recent times. The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the military intelligence agency of Pakistan, has reportedly decided to use terrorists to handle the situation.

Intelligence reports, as well as recent developments, suggest that the ISI has orchestrated a covert alliance between the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP), the Afghan branch of the Islamic State (ISIS), to wage a proxy war against regional rivals, primarily Afghanistan and India. It may be noted that the Pakistani Army believes that Afghanistan is backing the TTP, while India is supporting the BLA insurgents. Hence, Islamabad plans to destabilise the two neighbouring countries.

Recently, an image of ISKP leader Mir Shafiq Mengle and senior LeT commander Rana Mohammad Ashfaq has surfaced, showing the former giving a pistol to the latter as a gift. This image symbolises a formal alliance between the two terror outfits. According to sources close to Islamabad, the two terrorist leaders met in northern Balochistan under the auspices of the ISI.

Incidentally, President Donald John Trump withdrew the US troops from Afghanistan in 2021, allowing the Taliban to return to power on August 15 that year. Soon after the last American plane departed from Kabul International Airport in late August 2021, the ISKP demonstrated its strength by carrying out a massive explosion in the Afghan capital. The ISKP has always been an anti-Taliban force in ethnically and racially diverse Afghanistan. Even the Pakistani Army or the ISI has no control over this terror outfit. Taliban forces have been conducting armed operations against the ISKP for the past four years.

Meanwhile, Taliban’s relations with Pakistan have deteriorated significantly during this period. While Sirajuddin Haqqani, the acting Interior Affairs Minister of Afghanistan and the leader of the Haqqani Network, has been cornered in a power struggle, Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund and Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar have strengthened ties with India.

In such a situation, Pakistan wants to pave the way for an agreement between ISKP and LeT in order to confront the Baloch and TTP insurgents, and to increase the impact of terrorism in India. Although Afghanistan used to openly support terrorists in India-administered-Kashmir during the reign of Mullah Mohammad Omar, the current Taliban leadership maintains cordial ties with New Delhi.

Meanwhile, the BLA has hijacked a train (the Jaffar Express), carried out an IED explosion on a paramilitary Frontier Corps vehicle in Quetta and a suicide attack on a Pakistani Army convoy in Noshki (or Nushki) in recent times. The Pak Army has blamed the Majeed Brigade (also spelt Majid Brigade), a special forces unit of the BLA, for carrying out those attacks. In March 2025, the BLA, the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) and the Baloch Republican Guards (BRG) formed a new unified military outfit, called the Baloch National Army (BNA). The BNA was established under the existing umbrella organisation Baloch Raji Aajoi Sangar (BRAS), which also includes the Sindh Revolutionary Army (SRA), an insurgent group active in Sindh Province. Pakistan has alleged that India helped these rebel groups to form the new joint platform.

On the other hand, the TTP has been fighting against the Pakistani Army for almost a decade and a half. On September 4, 2022, a TTP spokesperson announced an end to the indefinite ceasefire, claiming that the Government of Pakistan made no efforts to make the negotiations successful. Thereafter, the TTP called for nationwide attacks in Pakistan. Since then, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been experiencing bloodbaths. Islamabad has not been able to bring this pro-independent Pashtunistan armed forces to heel in spite of carrying out continuous military operations. The Pak Army has claimed that the TTP receives support from the Afghan Taliban.

Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan touched a new low after Pakistan carried out airstrikes on Afghan soil in December 2024. Later, Islamabad designated the TTP as Fitna al-Khawarij and the Baloch rebels as Fitna al-Hindustan.

Meanwhile,

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Facebook

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Twitter

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Linkedin

Contact us: kousdas@gmail.com

Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das