Police say a former Afghan army soldier was arrested over terror plots in Tirah

Security forces and police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) say they have arrested a man who once served in the Afghan National Army (ANA) for allegedly carrying out terrorist activities inside Pakistan. The arrest was announced at a media briefing in Peshawar on Wednesday. All details below come from the police and the officials who spoke; they have not been independently verified.

What police say

Abbas Ahsan, the additional inspector general for the province’s designated districts, said the suspect, named as Hikmatullah alias Hamza, was picked up on November 7 during an intelligence-based operation in Tirah valley, Khyber district. By his account the man had been in the ANA before joining militant outfits, among them the banned Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, and had admitted to carrying out attacks in Pakistan.

The AIG said Hikmatullah is from Mangyar village in Paktia’s Chamkani area. He underwent six months of ANA training, he said, half of it military and half commando, and once the army was dissolved he put those skills to use in seminaries. Police used the state’s label for members of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in describing him, although they linked him to several groups.

The AIG said the investigation had revealed who the suspect’s facilitators were, both in Pakistan and in Afghanistan, where he was trained, and where he intended to carry out attacks. Police did not name any of these people or places.

Pakistan’s position

Spokesman Mehmood Jan Babar said Pakistan has consistently put its case, with evidence, before the world, that Afghan soil is repeatedly used against the country, and that the suspect had been planning similar attacks. He described the case as one link in a long chain rather than a single militant, and said attackers exploit the dark to slip in and plan.

That is the official line Islamabad has repeated for years: that the TTP and other groups find shelter in Afghanistan and attack Pakistan from there. The Afghan Taliban administration has avoided taking a clear position on the TTP and other groups, while rejecting the claim that Afghanistan is being used as a base for attacks against Pakistan. The Taliban had not commented on this case at the time of the report.

The wider timeline

Date	Development
February 26 (night)	Operation Ghazab lil Haq begins after what Pakistan called unprovoked firing by Afghan Taliban forces
September 21	“Calibrated” airstrikes against hideouts in the border region, with the government saying more than 28 terrorists were killed
November 7	Hikmatullah arrested in Tirah, according to police
November 9	ISPR announces two militant hideouts cleared at Mir Ali
November 11	Police brief the media on the arrest

We have reported on this pattern, including on clashes at Angoor Adda and on ISPR’s account of hideouts found in Mir Ali. Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington has “heard” Pakistan’s concerns about terrorism coming from Afghanistan and would play a productive role if there is one.

Why it matters

A suspect who is an Afghan national and a former soldier would, if the police account holds up, support Pakistan’s argument that attacks are planned and prepared across the border. The details the police have given, his training, his village and his past links, are the kind of evidence that could be shared with other governments or put to the Taliban. The police did not say whether Pakistan has formally handed over such material to Kabul, or whether it will release the suspect’s video statement.

At the same time, the case rests on police claims and a confession that has not been tested in court. The suspect has not been publicly produced before a judge in the report, and there was no information on what charges he faces.

What we do not know

• Which cases the police link him to, and what attacks he is said to have carried out.
• Whether any facilitators have been arrested.
• How the Afghan Taliban will respond.

What to watch is the formal charges and court appearance, any further arrests of the alleged facilitators, and Pakistan’s next diplomatic move with Kabul and with its partners.