Meet Noor Wali Mehsud, the man at the center of the Pakistan–Afghanistan ‘Dama Dam Mast Qalandar’ war

A fresh wave of hostilities has erupted between Pakistan and Afghanistan. On Friday, Pakistan declared it considers itself in an “open war” with Afghanistan after its forces reportedly killed more than 130 Taliban fighters in airstrikes in Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia. Islamabad described the strikes as retaliation for what it called cross-border attacks by the Afghan Taliban.

“Our patience has run out. Now there is an open war between us… Now it will be ‘Dama Dam Mast Qalandar.’ Pakistan’s army did not come from across the seas. We are your neighbours; we know your ins and outs,” Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said in a post on X.

At the heart of the tensions are Pakistan’s longstanding allegations that Kabul is sheltering anti-Pakistan militant groups, particularly the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Islamabad has repeatedly accused Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers of providing safe haven to TTP chief Noor Wali Mehsud and his associates — claims the Afghan Taliban have consistently denied. Pakistan has previously targeted Afghan territory under similar accusations.

The man at the centre: Noor Wali Mehsud

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan is led by Noor Wali Mehsud, a 47-year-old cleric educated in Pakistani seminaries. Pakistan’s grievances are largely rooted in his alleged continued presence in Afghanistan.

Mehsud took over the TTP in 2018, when the group was fractured and weakened by US drone strikes that had eliminated several of its senior leaders. Analysts describe him as both a strategist and an ideologue. He unified splinter factions, reorganised the command structure and recalibrated the group’s tactics.

Under his leadership, the TTP deliberately curtailed attacks on civilians in an apparent attempt to regain support in Pakistan’s tribal belt after the 2014 Peshawar school massacre, in which more than 130 children were killed. Instead, the group shifted its focus to military and police targets. Mehsud has portrayed Pakistan’s military as “anti-Islam,” accusing its generals of “hijacking the people of Pakistan for 78 years.”

The UN’s Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee has listed Mehsud for “financing, planning and perpetrating” terrorist acts. UN records from late 2022 placed him in Afghanistan’s Paktika province, near the Pakistan border.

Born in 1978 in Machikhel village in South Waziristan, Mehsud studied at several Islamic seminaries across Pakistan. He joined jihadist ranks in the 1990s and fought alongside the Afghan Taliban before formally joining the TTP in 2003. He rose swiftly through the ranks, serving as a judge in the group’s shadow courts and later as its Karachi chief. He became deputy to Maulana Fazlullah before assuming full leadership in 2018.

Unlike many militant commanders, Mehsud has cultivated an intellectual persona. He authored several books, including the 700-page Inqilab-e-Mehsud (The Mehsud Revolution), in which he links his movement to anti-colonial resistance. In the book, he claimed responsibility for orchestrating the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, alleging that she planned to align with the United States against the mujahideen.

Analysts characterize him as both a battlefield commander and a theorist. He frames Pakistan’s military operations against militants as a “defensive jihad,” arguing they represent a betrayal of tribal traditions and cooperation with the United States. His stated objectives include preserving Mehsud tribal autonomy, countering American influence in the region and establishing a Taliban-style Islamic system.

Since the Taliban’s return to power in Kabul in 2021, the TTP has regained momentum. Pakistan maintains that the group has used Afghan soil to launch near-daily attacks, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Attempts at negotiations have collapsed, with the TTP demanding the implementation of Islamic law in border regions and the withdrawal of Pakistani forces — conditions Islamabad rejected outright.