A new peer-reviewed article co-authored by Amira Jadoon, Abdul Sayed and A.S., "From Outrage to Empowerment: Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan's Evolving Gender-Messaging, published in Terrorism and Political Violence, examines a notable transformation in Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) engagement with women through targeted publications—and what these shifts reveal about militant organizational strategy. Using a mixed-methods approach that combines qualitative thematic coding and computational sentiment analysis, the study traces how the group’s women-focused messaging evolved in step with its organizational fortunes between 2017 and 2024.
The core finding challenges assumptions about ideological consistency in militant propaganda. TTP's messaging evolved dramatically across three distinct phases: from silence during operational dominance (2007-2014), to crisis-driven recruitment during organizational decline (2015-2018), to sophisticated legitimacy-building during strategic repositioning (2018-2024). This wasn't random—it directly tracked TTP's organizational circumstances.
During Phase 1 (2007-2014), when TTP was at its peak of operational capacity carrying out deadly attacks across Pakistan, the group produced virtually no systematic women-focused propaganda. TTP's media strategy prioritized militant achievements and male-targeted content. The exception was Maulana Fazlullah's localized outreach in Malakand Division through mosque FM radio broadcasts—an early recognition of women's potential strategic value that would become more systematic later.
Phase 2 marked a dramatic shift. When TTP faced existential threats from Pakistani military operations and competition from Islamic State Khorasan, the group launched Sunnat-e-Khaula with urgent, grievance-laden appeals for women to "turn their eyes towards the battlefield." The magazine employed grievance-based messaging calling for direct female participation in jihad. This reactive recruitment approach reflected organizational weakness during TTP’s period of decline.
By Phase 3, as TTP resurged—particularly following the Afghan Taliban's 2021 takeover of Afghanistan—the messaging fundamentally shifted. The new magazine series—Khawateen ka Jihad and Banat-e-Khadeejatul Kubra—de-emphasized combat roles and instead positioned women as ideological custodians, social media activists, and moral educators. Sentiment analysis revealed markedly higher prosocial content and more confident rhetorical framing. The focus shifted from immediate fighter recruitment to sustaining ideological commitment across generations, with women cast as essential to maintaining the movement's resilience through their roles in families and communities.
This evolution matters for three reasons. First, it demonstrates that militant groups' gender ideologies are more flexible than commonly assumed—tactical necessities can override doctrinal positions. Second, shifts in women-focused propaganda serve as indicators of organizational health that analysts should monitor. Third, effective counter-messaging must account for these strategic adaptations rather than simply exposing ideological contradictions.
For those tracking Pakistan's security landscape, understanding how and why TTP modulates its appeals to women provides a window into the group's strategic priorities and vulnerabilities. When propaganda shifts from grievance-heavy crisis recruitment to patient ideological cultivation, it signals not just tactical adaptation but fundamental transformation in how militant organizations position themselves for long-term survival.
The full article is available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09546553.2025.2556859
TTP’s Gendered Messaging (Selection)
