Karachi Attacks Show Splintered Pakistani Taliban Groups May Still Work Together

By official account, the Pakistani Taliban had in recent weeks been engaged in peace talks with
the government in Islamabad in what had been billed as an effort to quell Pakistan's long- running violence.

Those talks effectively exploded in recent days along with hopes for peace. First, the Taliban
mounted a lethal attack on the international airport in Karachi late Sunday, and then struck
again at a nearby security training camp on Tuesday, forcing a second airport shutdown as security forces fired at gunmen who fled the scene.

The pair of attacks killed 36 people while underscoring the growing strength of the Pakistani Taliban despite years of American drone strikes and pledges from the Pakistani
government to quell the insurgency.

Experts construed the assaults on the Karachi airport -- the busiest in the nation, and a gateway to the rest of the world -- as a sign of the Taliban's
growing confidence as it ratchets up its confrontation with the government.

"There almost certainly will be more attacks," Lisa Ruth, a former CIA officer, told International Business Times. "The question is when and where. The airport attacks were
highly successful from the point of view of a terrorist – gaining international attention, shutting down the airport and causing damage and loss of life.

This likely will further embolden
the Taliban to take more action."
The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e Taliban (TTP), was formed in 2007 with the
mission to impose a fundamentalist brand of
Islamic law while attacking the Pakistani military.

In the years since, the organization -- really a loose affiliation of militant groups
based in tribal areas of the country -- has taken responsibility for thousands of deaths and has coordinated numerous assaults on security
targets.