Hafiz Gul Bahadur حافظ ګل بهادر | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1961 (age 63–64) |
| Allegiance |  Pakistani Taliban |
| Commands | |
| Battles / wars | Soviet-Afghan War Afghan Civil War (1992-1996) War in Afghanistan (2001-2021) Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 2025 Afghanistan-Pakistan conflict |
Hafiz Gul Bahadur [a] is a Pakistani militant and senior commander of the Pakistani Taliban, particularly his Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group faction. [1]
Bahadur was born in Datta Khel, North Waziristan, in 1961. [2] He is of Pashtun descent and a member of the Utmanzai Wazir clan. He is a direct descendent of Mirzali Khan, a Wazir leader who revolted against both British India and Pakistan. [1] Bahadur attended a Deobandi madrassa in Multan, and joined the student wing of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) in North Waziristan. [3]
Bahadur participated in the Soviet–Afghan War on behalf of the Afghan mujahideen, and the Afghan civil war on behalf of the Taliban. [1] [3] He received attention in 2001 for recruiting a militia of 4,000 personnel in opposition to a United Nations mission, which was set to deploy along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in order to prevent the flow of weapons to the Taliban.
In 2005, the Pakistani military began operations within North Waziristan to pursue Al-Qaeda militants fleeing from South Waziristan. hey met resistance from militant groups led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur, among others. [1] In September 2006, he negotiated a peace deal with the Pakistani government, in which he agreed to expel all foreign militants from Waziristan [4]
After a year of fighting NATO forces in Afghanistan, Bahadur returned to Pakistan in late 2007. [5] He refused to assist Baitullah Mehsud, the first Emir of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), against the Pakistan Army and urged him to refrain from fighting Pakistani forces in Razmak, North Waziristan. [6]
Upon the formation of the TTP in December 2007, he was announced as the militant group's overall NaibEmir (Deputy Emir) under Baitullah Mehsud, but largely distanced himself from the TTP due to rivalries with Mehsud and disagreements about the TTP's attacks against the Pakistani state. [7] [4] Although no formal announcement of leaving the TTP occurred, Gul Bahadur often refused to coordinate activities with the TTP against the government. [4]
In July 2008, Bahadur and Maulvi Nazir, leader of the Ahmedzai Wazirs in South Waziristan, announced the creation of the Muqami Tehreek-e-Taliban, which was also referred to as the "Waziri Alliance," with Bahadur as its leader and Nazir as his deputy. [1] [4] In the same year, drone strikes from the United States in North Waziristan strained the peace deal with the Pakistani government that he had agreed previously to observe in 2006. [5] In March 2011, he threatened to pull out of the peace deal with Pakistani government after one of his top commanders, Sherabat Khan Wazir, was killed in a Datta Khel airstrike. [8]
In 2014, Bahadur's relations with the Pakistani government broke down after the launch of Operation Zarb-e-Azb by Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in which Bahadur revoked his treaty with Pakistan and opted to fight against the Pakistani military. [9]
Following the fall of Kabul, the Bahadur increased his to the Haqqani Network and the TTP, resulting in a sharp increase in cross-border militant incursions along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. [10] Bahadur is also closely aligned with Sirajuddin Haqqani, and provides him with a rear base in North Waziristan. [11]