A Triumvirate Threatens America

Once again, the Taliban of Pakistan (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP) have threatened to launch attacks against American targets abroad, which coincides with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s confirmation that the Times Square operation in the heart of New York was planned and executed by the TTP.

When one of the top leaders of the movement, Hakimallah Mehsud, announced that his organization, Tehrik, or the Taliban of Pakistan, was responsible for executing the Times Square operation in revenge for an air strike targeting and killing Baitullah Mehsud [a TTP leader in Waziristan, Pakistan], many inside and outside the U.S. cast doubt on the claim, originally broadcast by a Pakistani News channel, but which was copied to and subsequently removed from You Tube.

This is the first time the Taliban of Pakistan have executed an attack of this gravity: using a car rigged with explosives in one of the most famous squares of New York, the financial and economic capital of America, only meters away from the World Trade Center, a target of the 9/11 attacks.

Perhaps there is an important connection between this operation and the opinion that it comes as revenge for the assassination of two al-Qaida leaders in Iraq, Abu Abdullah al-Rashid al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri. It means that the two movements, the Taliban of Pakistan and al-Qaida have formed a coalition, or perhaps even fused, while former relations were merely coordinated.

The tripartite coalition, the Taliban of Afghanistan, those of Pakistan and al-Qaida, reached its peak when it executed a suicide attack against the C.I.A. in Khost (Afghanistan) on Dec. 31, 2009. This attack killed seven American intelligence agents, mostly of high rank, in addition to a Jordanian intelligence officer.

The man who committed the attack, al-Balawi, said in a suicide message that the Arab Mujahideen (fighters) were being hosted by the Taliban of Pakistan, where they were most welcome. He continued by adding that he undertook this martyrdom operation, in his words, as revenge for the martyrdom of Baitullah Mehsud. This televised admission was the first evidence of bi-lateral coordination between al-Qaida, who recruited the Jordanian doctor (al-Balawi), and the Taliban of Pakistan.

It is clear that the Times Square operation did not result in any deaths because of the rudimentary methods used to rig the car with explosives. The would-be attacker’s admission of having connections with the Taliban of Pakistan, during interrogation, could be a signal of the beginning of operations which could well be more deadly, particularly if the movement in question learned from al-Qaida’s booby-trapping methods and techniques of recruiting supporters within the U.S., where there exists a large Pakistani community spread out across many states.

American security officials are right to worry about the formation of this new alliance and the decision of the Taliban of Afghanistan to move its operations into the depths of mainland America. This comes in light of continued U.S. air attacks against elements inside the tribal borderlands of Pakistan, which are leading to great civilian losses, along with the deaths of some of the movement’s leaders. The number of sympathizers with the movement within Pakistan is over four million. Of that number, an estimated 80,000 are armed and ready to commit suicide attacks in the same manner as those who hit Mumbai in November 2008.

This is a dangerous triad that could well develop into an unprecedented threat to the security of the United States and its allies, particularly if the battle is rejoined in American territory. It appears that the decision to do so has already been made, meaning that we are now shifting from a phase of threats to implementation.