“In December 2007 two dozen tribal militias and other groups from Punjab [Pakistan] and Kashmir met in FATA [Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas], where they joined together to form a new organization, the ‘Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’ (TTP), Movement of the Pakistan Taliban, led by the charismatic 35-year-old Baitullah Mehsud from South Waziristan [Pakistan], a close ally of Al Qaeda, the Afghan Taliban and [leader of the insurgent Haqqani group] Jalaluddin Haqqani. …The aim of the TTP was to take over Pakistan and turn it into a sharia state ruled by the Taliban.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Ahmed Rashid, Taliban, Page 239