US DESIGNATES 4 TEHREEK-I-TALIBAN MEMBERS AS GLOBAL TERRORISTS

The United States declared four leaders of the Tehreeki-taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, as global terrorists on December 1, Thursday.

The US added that it would use all its strength and resources to bring them to justice, The Dawn reported, quoting a source from Pakistan. The Dawn report further quoted the US State Department as saying, “The United States is committed to using its full set of counterterrorism tools to counter the threat posed by terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan.”

“The actions demonstrate that we will continue to use all relevant tools to uphold our commitment to see to it that international terrorists are not able to operate with impunity in Afghanistan,” The Dawn reported, quoting the US State Department.

Furthermore, according to a US State Department statement, the TTP and Asian Al Qaeda have used Afghanistan to spread terror.

The TTP’S deputy emir, Qari Amjad, is one of the four leaders to have been added to the US’ designated list of terrorists, the statement said, adding that he is responsible for looking after the TTP’S militants and operations in the Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

The others added as global terrorists to the US list are Osama Mehmood, a regional chief of Al Qaeda, Atif Yahya Ghouri, and Mohammad Maruf, who is in charge of the recruitment of terrorists in Al Qaeda, The Dawn reported.

Amjad, who also goes by the alias Mufti Hazrat Deroji, has been involved in violent terrorist activities for the last 15 years in Pakistan and has been even more brutal since the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, the report said.

Further quoting the US

State Department, The Dawn reported that they were added to the list for the high leadership roles that they serve in these terrorist groups, and that adding them to the list is one of the US’S efforts to ensure that Afghan soil isn’t used as a terror launchpad.

As a result of them being added to the US list, any and all property and financial support that comes under the US’ jurisdiction is blocked, The Dawn reported.

The Tehreek-i-taliban Pakistan formally withdrew its ceasefire agreement with Pakistan, which was formally declared in June, on 28 November.

The withdrawal of the ceasefire agreement was followed by a wave of terror attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

According to a report, the TTP has, till date, claimed responsibility for carrying out 43 attacks in 18 districts of Pakistan, saying most were either in retaliation or defence.

According to a US State Department statement, the TTP and Asian Al Qaeda have used Afghanistan to spread terror.