The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) came into existence after the Lal Masjid operation, when all the fringe extremist and jihadi groups joined together to fight the State of Pakistan. The TTP, while seeming to be single organization, is actually 16 various groups fighting under one banner, without a commonality of objectives.
While the TTP and their affiliated groups has been a headache for Pakistan since the time of Sufi Muhammad’s Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), a Salafi Islamic extremist militant group in Pakistan whose sole objective was to enforce Sharia law throughout Pakistan. Mullah Fazlullah was birthed from that movement to lead the Tehrik-i-Taliban Swat and then the TTP.
In 2007, when the TTP took over the settled district of Swat, they gained international recognition as a terrorist group operating in Pakistan, affiliated with the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaeda. For many security analysts in Pakistan, it is well-known that certain factions of the TTP are operated, trained, armed and supported by foreign intelligence agencies and governments hostile to Pakistan.
