Pakistani Taliban raising money through extortion

The branch of the Taliban movement in Pakistan depends on financial extortion to raise money.

The branch imposes royalties on people living in areas close to the shared border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

It also makes threats and sometimes murders people to coerce them to pay the amounts of money it wants.

The Taliban usually gets money from people in the border areas through intermediaries.

The people subject to the movement's extortion pay money several times every year.

Afghanistan has become an open haven for the fighters of the Pakistani movement, especially after the US-led coalition chased them there.

Financial extortion

Extortion is a means of financing adopted by the Pakistani movement. This means allows the movement to undermine the confidence of the population in local institutions. It also preys on between 80 and 95% of wealthy residents in the region where some parliamentarians were attacked after they refused to pay money, while others stopped visiting their constituencies for fear of being attacked.

Attempts by the Pakistani branch of the Taliban to extort money in the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan have increased since the mother movement took over Afghanistan in August 2021.

Tribal areas in north-western Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan are the cradle of the Pakistani Taliban movement.

The movement killed tens of thousands of civilians and members of the Pakistani security forces in less than a decade.

It reached the peak of its influence between 2007 and 2009, when it controlled the Swat Valley, around 140 kilometres north of Islamabad.

It imposed its strict version of Islamic law in the valley.

There are old differences between the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban movements.

The Afghan Taliban repeatedly stressed that it would not allow terrorist groups to operate on its territory. However, the first indicator of an extortion attempt by the Pakistani Taliban is the caller ID number that begins with the Afghan code 0093, followed by a text message dispelling any confusion, or a voice message in Pashtun with a Pakistani accent.

After its strength declined due to the bombing of American marches, internal divisions and the accession of elements of it to the terrorist organization ISIS, the movement was expelled from the tribal areas during a large-scale operation carried out by the Pakistani army in 2014.

Nevertheless, it began to regain strength in the summer of 2020, with the accession of dissident factions to it.

The real turning point happened when the Afghan movement returned to power in Afghanistan.

The Pakistani Taliban, which lost a large part of the popular support it enjoyed locally before 2014, claims that this extortion system is the work of criminals, using its name.

Nonetheless, a local intelligence official confirmed that the Pakistani movement is behind the threat, as residents of the Swat Valley fear the return of dark days, and have expressed opposition to the movement by organizing several demonstrations in recent weeks.

Observers stressed that Afghanistan has since become an open haven for the fighters of the Taliban Pakistan, after the US-led coalition chased them there.

They now have full freedom of movement in the neighbouring country.

The same observers noted that this is one of the reasons that led to the increase in attacks by the Pakistani movement.