8am: Following the Taliban’s extensive restrictions on photography and filming, tensions between the group’s two main factions have heightened, visibly playing out across media and social networks. In response to the photography ban on living beings, virtual teams associated with the Haqqani network have circulated images and videos of Sirajuddin Haqqani, whom they call the
8am: Recently, The New York Times referred to Sirajuddin Haqqani, the acting Interior Minister of the Taliban and the leader of the Haqqani Network, as the only “dissenting voice from within” the group. This is not the first time some media outlets and reputable international organizations have made such claims. Click here to read more
Al Jazeera: While Akhundzada appears in control, signs of growing internal divisions have surfaced. In February 2023, Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani implicitly criticised him, saying, “Monopolising power and hurting the reputation of the entire system are not to our benefit. … The situation cannot be tolerated.” Click here to read more (external link).
Nikkei: Possible signs of friction in Afghanistan’s Taliban leadership have forced the group to deny a rift at the top. While experts are not counting on mutiny, some say key leaders’ unusually public criticism of the war-torn country’s direction marks a significant change for the Islamist group. Last month, the Taliban’s interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani,
By Sadiq Amini via The Diplomat: Nothing illustrates the divisions inside the Taliban leadership so much as the cruel ban on girls’ education, which is widely believed by nationalist circles within the Taliban to be the work of the ISI and extremist elements of the Taliban who are closely aligned with Rawalpindi, as they are
TRT World: Factional rift and competing interests to move up the power ladder are among the key factors pushing the former insurgent group to the brink of implosion. There are four major divisions in the Taliban administration. The first is between the movements’ pragmatist and hardline leaders. The second division is between the Taliban fighters
By Abubakar Siddique Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty June 2, 2022 During its nearly 20-year insurgency, the Taliban remained a largely coherent fighting force despite succession crises, competition from Islamic State-Khorasan, and a deadly war against foreign and Afghan forces. But as the Taliban has attempted to transform from a guerrilla force into a functional government after
Michael Hughes AOPNEWS May 21, 2022 Although intense infighting has complicated Taliban efforts to quash the resistance in northern Afghanistan, the fragmented opposition will be hard-pressed to expand nationwide without more external assistance, especially as Pakistan steps up support for the radical movement, experts told Afghan Online Press. The Taliban 2.0, in power now for
Fair Observer: Two rival theological notions of leadership within the Taliban pose equal threats to Afghanistan and to global peace. The Kandahari-led Taliban are orthodox Hanafi Muslims with a tribal mentality whose ultimate aim is to establish an Islamic state in Afghanistan, dominated and governed by Pashtuns. The Haqqani group, on the other hand, follow