KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Friction between pragmatists and ideologues in the Taliban leadership has intensified since the group formed a hard-line cabinet last week that is more in line with its harsh 1990s government that their recent promises of inclusion, said two. Afghans familiar with the struggle for power.
The dispute has taken place behind the scenes, but rumors quickly began circulating about a recent violent confrontation between the two camps at the presidential palace, including claims that the leader of the pragmatic faction, Abdul Ghani Baradar, was assassinated.
The rumors reached such intensity that an audio recording and a handwritten statement, allegedly by Baradar himself, denied that he had been killed. Then, on Wednesday, Baradar appeared in an interview with the country’s national television.
“I was traveling from Kabul, so I didn’t have access to the media to dismiss this news,” Baradar said of the rumor.
Baradar was the main negotiator during talks between the Taliban and the United States that paved the way for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, which was completed in late August, two weeks after the the Taliban surpassed the capital of Kabul.
Shortly after taking control of Kabul, Baradar had been the first senior Taliban official to offer the possibility of an inclusive government, but those hopes were dashed by the formation of an all-male, all-Taliban formation last week. .
In another signal that strong leaders had prevailed, the white Taliban flag was hoisted over the presidential palace, replacing the Afghan national flag.
A Taliban official said the leadership has not yet made any final decision on the flag, as many leaned towards the arrow of the two banners side by side. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to discuss internal deliberations with the media.
The two Afghans familiar with the power struggle also spoke on condition of anonymity to protect the confidentiality of those who shared their dissatisfaction with the formation of the Council of Ministers. They said a minister of the Cabinet was gambling on dismissing his office, angry at the all-Taliban government that shunned the country’s ethnic and religious minorities.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has denied loopholes in the leadership. On Tuesday, Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mutaqi dismissed the reports as “propaganda.”
Baradar had been remarkably absent from key functions. For example, earlier this week he was not at the presidential palace to receive Qatar Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdur Rahman Al-Thani, who is also a foreign minister and was making the highest-level foreign visit since of the Taliban’s takeover. Baradar’s absence was discordant as Qatar had welcomed him for years as head of the Taliban’s political office in the Qatari capital, Doha.
But in an interview on Wednesday, Baradar said he did not attend the meeting because he was unaware of the foreign minister’s visit to Kabul. “I was already gone and I couldn’t go back,” Baradar said.
Several officials and Afghans familiar with and in contact with Baradar previously told The Associated Press that he was in the provincial capital of southwestern Kandahar for a meeting with Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhunzada. Another Taliban figure said Baradar was visiting a family he had not seen in the twenty years of war.
Analysts say the friction may not pose a serious threat to the Taliban, for now.
“We have seen over the years that, despite the disputes, the Taliban remains a cohesive institution and that important decisions do not get any worse after the fact,” said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Wilson Center’s Asia-based program. in Washington.
“I think the current internal dissent can be managed,” he said. “However, the Taliban will be under a lot of pressure as they try to consolidate their power, gain legitimacy and address the major political challenges. If these efforts fail, a stressed organization could see increasingly serious fighting.”
However, today’s Taliban divisions will be more difficult to resolve without the harsh rule of the group’s founder, the late Mullah Omar, who demanded unquestionable loyalty.