A suicide bombing killed more than 100 people in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, devastated a mosque in a supposedly safe part of the city and sent smoke into the sky. and caused panic in the streets.
But more than that: attack on monday knocks out a city scarred by terror back in time, back to a decade ago when Peshawar became synonymous with the ruins of a military campaign that profoundly changed a nation.
In the years following 2015, when Pakistani Taliban fighters and other fighters were mostly driven out of the region – many fleeing to neighboring Afghanistan – Peshawar residents dared to hope that the days of fighting Random terrorist attack was behind them.
But on Tuesday, as emergency responders pulled bodies one by one from the rubble, questions immediately arose about the government’s ability to fight a new wave of militants amid the economic and political crisis seems intractable.
Hospital officials said the bombing was one of the deadliest suicide attacks in Pakistan in years, killing at least 101 people and injuring 217 others. Many of the casualties were police and government employees who had come to pray at the mosque, in a heavily guarded residential area near several important government and military buildings.
The attack adds to recent evidence that the Pakistani Taliban, a group that has claimed responsibility, is regaining strength from safe havens in Afghanistan under that country’s new government.
Madiha Afzal said: “The scale of this attack on police officers at a mosque in a safe area of Peshawar – it really gives off a sense of déjà vu, a vivid reminder of Insecurity and violence engulfed Pakistan a decade ago.” , a fellow at the Brookings Institution.
In Peshawar, the memory of those days is vivid – and the sense of loss after the attack is profound. As dusk fell on Tuesday, and the city shook as it gathered to bury rows of coffins, many wondered: Have the days of blood and horror returned? And if so, where does the country go from here?
Akbar Mohmand, 34, a rickshaw driver in the city, said: “For a few years, Peshawar was very peaceful and peaceful. “But it looks like suicide bombings and terrorism are back.”
For nearly 40 years, Peshawar has suffered from conflicts in the region. In the 1980s, it became a stage for fighters fighting the Soviet-backed Afghan government, and after the United States overthrew Afghanistan’s Taliban regime in 2001, thousands of Taliban fighters and al-Qaeda members have been hiding in so-called tribal areas along the border.
For years, Taliban leaders have recruited Pakistanis who, like the Afghan Taliban, are ethnic Pashtuns, while the Pakistani military junta tries to drive out the militants.
By 2007, a loose network of militants had asserted their own leadership and formed the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. The group quickly emerged as one of the deadliest militant organizations in Pakistan, carrying out attacks across the country.
During that time, Peshawar became the center of the conflict. In one of the group’s biggest attacks, in December 2014, Taliban fighters killed 147 students and teachers. at a public school run by the military – give new impetus to a Pakistani army offensive that pushes most of the TTP fighters into Afghanistan.
When the Afghan Taliban capture the capital Kabul In August 2021, Pakistani officials hoped that after years of covert support, the new government would help rein in the TTP.
But so far, that bet has not paid off. The Afghan Taliban has refused to rely on the TTP, analysts say, asking Pakistan to address its grievances instead. The Afghan Taliban held talks in Kabul last year but reconciliation was fruitless – and relations between the Afghan and Pakistani authorities have become strained.
And between those talks, analysts say the Pakistani Taliban were able to regroup. In Swat, a picturesque valley to the north that the TTP once effectively controlled, last August, residents witnessed the arrival of militants – with terror, they said.
Wealthy businessmen, elected representatives and doctors began to receive anonymous calls, made from Afghanistan and within Pakistan, asking them to pay huge extortion ransoms or to send them to agents. other city. Increased extortion and threats of violence led thousands of protesters to flood the streets of Swat in October, demanding that the government keep the peace.
Majid Ali, 26, a university student who has participated in a number of protests, said: “People are living in an atmosphere of panic and insecurity in the valley because of Taliban violence again. “But the people will not allow anyone in the name of the Taliban to destroy the peace in the region.”
The Peshawar attack comes at a time of major economic and political upheaval that critics say has alarmed Pakistani leaders and diverted attention away from security threats. , including the TTP and the Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan, which have also stepped up attacks.
As political elites pointed fingers at each other on Tuesday, there were also whispers that the military might consider launching another similar counterattack in 2014. But today, any attack. Any such success would be complicated by the Pakistani government’s fragile relationship with the new government in Afghanistan.
Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, said: “The most successful counter-terrorism response is likely to be one that focuses on the heart of the TTP’s power right now – and that is in Afghanistan. where the headquarters of the group’s leadership is located. . “If Pakistan were to carry out cross-border counterterrorism operations that could potentially cause tensions with the Taliban in Afghanistan across the stratosphere – and that’s the last thing Pakistan needs.”
Even as Pakistan’s police increased their presence on Tuesday, many were unwilling to wait for the government’s response. There has been much talk of migrating to relatively safer cities, such as Islamabad and Lahore.
“No city is safe in Pakistan, but compared to Peshawar, one can find it relatively quiet and peaceful,” said Mukhtiar Masih, a Christian sanitation worker.
Masih lost a friend in a 2013 suicide bombing that killed more than 120 people at a church in Peshawar — and he is terrified of the new violence. He spent Tuesday calling friends in Lahore, which has a sizable Christian community, and began packing up his things.
“I lived in Peshawar during the height of terrorism from 2009 to 2013,” he said. “I know how hard it is to live.”
