PESHAWAR: Experts say that after capturing Afghanistan, the Taliban are facing daunting task to maintain peace in their ranks and running the country which is already on the brink of disaster.
According to the French news agency AFP, the group from the outside may appear to be united in all ideological and strategic matters, but like any other major political organisation, the decades-old Islamist group has its own divisions, animosities, loyalties and factions. During the group’s 20-year effort to defeat the US-led foreign troops, it managed to contain the widespread dissent and the Ashraf Ghani administration was widely accused of corruption. But after defeating their common enemy, the cracks in the Taliban have opened up.
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Mutual differences
On 13 September, rumors surfaced that the Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar had been killed in a shootout between rival factions at the presidential palace, but Baradar released an audio message saying he was alive.
According to Nematullah Ibrahimi, an expert on Afghan affairs at the Australian University of La Trobe, the formation of an interim government has exposed the group’s political tensions that may fuel future difficulties. The Kandahar faction dominated the first Taliban regime in the 1990s, but now the Haqqanis are credited with many of the group’s military successes. “We really shouldn’t underestimate the power of the Haqqanis,” said Ibrahimi.
Ibrahimi said militarily, Haqqanis have been a much better part of the movement, maintaining important links with al-Qaeda and Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, but also have their own special power base in Afghanistan.” The head of the family, Sirajuddin Haqqani, who was declared a terrorist by the United States and offered a $10 million reward for his capture, has taken control of the Interior Ministry. According to Graham Smith, a senior consultant at the International Crisis Group, he is a “natural choice for the position as he has organized most of the Taliban’s militant units.”
The cause of dispute
However, Haqqani’s appointment has made it even more difficult for Western governments to recognize the Taliban government or release frozen Afghan central bank reserves in the United States. The failure to raise the money and the foreign acceptance can be considered a setback for Mullah Baradar, who has been a key player in negotiations with the west that has led to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Enmity between factions could create more problems with Afghanistan’s neighbors, experts say.