From friend to foe: How Hafiz Gul Bahadur brought Pak, Afghanistan to blows

Hafiz Gul Bahadur went from being a pro-Pakistan militant commander to an implacable foe of the state and armed forces in the span of just a decade

Hafiz Gul Bahadur, once a pro-Pakistan militant commander and currently the head of the Jaish-e-Fursan-e-Muhammad, a newly formed terrorist group, is the man responsible for triggering Monday's round of hostilities between Pakistan and Afghanistan. 

Islamabad on Monday said it had carried out overnight airstrikes on the militants affiliated with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. 

But, the Afghan Taliban, which summoned the charge d'affaires of Pakistan's embassy in Kabul to lodge a strong protest, said that at least eight civilians, including three children, were killed in Pakistan's airstrikes. 

The Afghan defence ministry later claimed that it had fired across the border at Pakistani positions in retaliation. 

A press release from Pakistan's Foreign Office said that militants belonging to TTP's Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group were hit after the outfit claimed responsibility for attacking an army outpost on Saturday, resulting in the killing of seven soldiers, including two officers.

   

But, Hafiz Gul Bahadur, thought to be in his sixties now, didn't start off as Islamabad's enemy. 

From the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, a district located in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan, Gul Bahadur is a veteran of the 1992-96 Afghan civil war. He later joined the Afghan Taliban. 

Pakistan's friend in Waziristan 

Public policy think-tank American Enterprise Institute's (AEI's) biography on Gul Bahadur reveals that in the early 2000s, he responded to US drone strikes and Pakistan's military operations with limited violence, in a bid to protect his powerbase. 

But, for a long time, Gul Bahadur did not launch an unrestricted war against Pakistan's armed forces. Back then, the assessment about Gul Bahadur was that maintaining his sphere of influence motivated him more than any other factor. 

Writing for The Friday Times, a Pakistani English-language newsweekly, journalist Zalmay Azad said that Hafiz Gul Bahadur was actually seen as a pro-Pakistan commander by Islamabad and the Pakistan Army between 2006-2009, a time when Waziristan had become the epicentre of terrorism against the Pakistani state and its people. 

In fact, at one time, Gul Bahadur was the press secretary of the Islamist political party Jamiat-e-Ulema Pakistan's student wing. 

An ally of the Haqqani Network 

Gul Bahadur was and remains a close associate of the Haqqani Network, a Sunni Islamist militant organisation founded by Jalaluddin Haqqani that relocated to North Waziristan after the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent US invasion of Afghanistan. 

The Haqqanis primarily conducted cross-border operations into Afghanistan, and were considered the most lethal and sophisticated of the groups targeting US, coalition, and Afghan forces during the US' War in Afghanistan. 

Jalaluddin's son, Sirajuddin Haqqani, currently leads the day-to-day operations of the militant group. 

While Gul Bahadur gave shelter and support to the Haqqani Network and Al-Qaeda, he also provided assistance to the TTP, despite not formally aligning with the group. 

But, Azad's article explains that even as he sheltered militants from the TTP, Gul Bahadur, who ran his own group, the Shura Mujahideen-e-Waziristan, staked out a mostly neutral position in the conflict between the TTP and Pakistani armed forces. 

Formed in 2007, the TTP is an alliance of militant groups that has been targeting the Pakistani military. The group's stated objectives are the implementation of their strict interpretation of sharia law throughout Pakistan and the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in the country by overthrowing its government. 

In fact, the Pakistani government had entered into an accord with Hafiz Gul Bahadur in 2006, under which he would not conduct any attacks within Pakistan and not send fighters into Afghanistan. 

While Gul Bahadur didn't stick to the latter condition and continued sending militants into Afghanistan, he did hold his hand back when it came to the Pakistani security forces. 

2014 North Waziristan operations were the turning point 

It was only in 2009 that Gul Bahadur started taking noticeable action against the Pakistani armed forces. 

In June that year, the Pakistani military began operations in Waziristan to kill the then leader of the TTP, Baitullah Mehsud. 

But, Gul Bahadur was still not the implacable foe of the Pakistani armed forces that he is today. 

As the AEI biography points out, Gul Bahadur kidnapped ten Pakistani soldiers in July that year, but released them two days later. 

However, Pakistan's army made a declared enemy out of Gul Bahadur when it conducted military operations in North Waziristan, called Operation Zarb-e-Azb. 

The operation, launched in 2014, was followed by Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad, which began in 2017. 

Zalmay Azad explains that while Gul Bahadur had expected that the Pakistani armed forces would be lenient with him, the operations saw his house destroyed. Gul Bahadur fled to Afghanistan, but a number of his commanders and relatives were killed.   

Another factor were the drone strikes, carried out by the US but with Pakistan's knowledge. These strikes and the resulting casualties pushed Gul Bahadur closer to the TTP.   

A dangerous foe 

While Gul Bahadur and his group still maintain a distinct identity, his relationship with the TTP has deepened since the Taliban government seized power in Kabul in 2021. 

Given his past with the Haqqani network, Gul Bahadur also receives significant support from the group. 

All these factors combine to give him substantial influence in North Waziristan. 

The Gul Bahadur group's March 16 attack that started the exchange of hostilities between Pakistan and Afghanistan killed seven Pakistani soldiers, including two officers, who were manning a post in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan. 

According to the Pakistani military's media wing, an explosives-laden vehicle and multiple suicide bombing attacks were used during the assault on the post. 

This highlights how dangerous Gul Bahadur is, having been a pioneer of sorts when it comes to using suicide bombers. 

As Azad again points out, Gul Bahadur in fact played a key role in setting up the Haqqani Network's first suicide bomber camp in the Datta Khel area.