Michael Hughes: According to realist theorist Hans Morgenthau, all politics is a struggle for power – a theory based on the darkest views of human nature; and one that is, unfortunately, applicable to the state of politics in most capitals worldwide. The power struggles do not only occur between reigning and opposition factions. Those who take power are often forced to fight internal battles to remain in power, and such is the case in Afghanistan – where civil wars within civil wars are brewing.
Afghan governments have suffered divisions since the Durrani monarchy collapsed in a spat between cousins in the 1970s, which ended four decades of relative stability and unity. The government used strong-hand tactics to be sure. The Durrani dynasty endured by employing a Turkic-Mongol autocratic structure adopted from Nadir Shah’s Persia. But the model was less important than pragmatic policies – the rulers from 1933 to 1973 kept the rule from entanglement in foreign conflicts, while preventing the eruption of civil war.
Many are mistaken to think the Taliban were strongly united under Mullah Omar. In fact, as we’ve reported here, the one-eyed Mullah’s overthrow was thwarted by the U.S. bombing campaign which of course pushed the Taliban together against the foreign invader. The Taliban tried and failed to implement a caliphate model along the lines of Ottoman and Arab rulers. The structured centralized hierarchy turned out to be brittle and ripe for implosion.
Taliban 2.0 was founded on an even flimsier ground than the first version.