Once dubbed the good Taliban, this militant leader now wages war against Pakistan

Cultures · Published 10 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a tribal leader in North Waziristan, spent years maintaining a fragile peace with the Pakistani state while supporting the Afghan Taliban. Since the 2021 fall of Kabul, however, his group has pivoted to a violent insurgency, launching high-profile attacks from across the Afghan border.

Born around 1961, Hafiz Gul Bahadur is a leader of the Utmanzai Wazir clan in North Waziristan. His path to prominence began in 2005 when he organized armed resistance against Pakistani military operations aimed at evicting foreign fighters. By September 2006, he had negotiated a peace treaty with the Pakistani government, agreeing to expel foreign militants. This deal earned him the label of the good Taliban, as he effectively governed North Waziristan while maintaining ties with the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network.

Bahadur’s relationship with the Pakistani state was always volatile. Although he was named the first deputy leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) upon its formation in December 2007, he frequently distanced himself from the group’s anti-state agenda, preferring to focus his forces on fighting NATO and Afghan government targets. This uneasy truce finally collapsed in May 2014 following the launch of the Pakistani military's Operation Zarb-e-Azb. Weakened by the offensive, Bahadur’s group fled into Afghanistan.

The 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan fundamentally altered the group's strategy. With the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan defeated, Bahadur’s faction—now operating under the TTP umbrella—shifted its focus entirely to Pakistan. Collaborating with the TTP and utilizing front groups like Jaish-e-Fursan-e-Muhammad, the network has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks on Pakistani security forces. Despite reports of his death in 2014 and again in October 2025, Bahadur has consistently surfaced to prove his survival, continuing to orchestrate cross-border violence from his base in Afghanistan.

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