The power struggle within the Taliban

Dr. Jassim Taqui

DG Al-Bab Institute for Strategic Studies

Islamabad, September 15, 2021: all sorts of reports are in circulation speaking about an intense power struggle within the ranks of the Taliban. Broadly, the Taliban is divided into two groups. Mullah Abdul Ghani Bradar and Sirajuddin Haqqani group.

According to Reuters, Mullah Abdul Ghani Bradar was killed in a shootout with rivals. He was Deputy Prime Minister of Afghanistan for less than one month.

Taliban denied the shootout. However, Reuters said it could not confirm the report.

The denials follow days of rumors that supporters of Bradar had clashed with those of Sirajuddin Haqqani, head of the Haqqani network that is based near the border with Pakistan and was blamed for suicide attacks of the war.

The rumors follow speculation over possible rivalries between military commanders like Haqqani and leaders from the political office in Doha like Bradar, who led diplomatic efforts to settle with the United States.

Bradar, once seen as the likely head of a Taliban government, had not been seen in public for some time and was not part of the ministerial delegation which met Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani in Kabul on Sunday.

The movement’s supreme leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, has also not been seen in public since the Taliban seized Kabul on Aug. 15, although he issued a public statement when the new government was formed last week.

Speculation over Taliban leaders has been fed by the circumstances surrounding the death of the movement’s founder, Mullah Omar, which was only made public in 2015 two years after it happened, setting off bitter recriminations among the leadership.

Ostensibly, Bradar and members of his group are not appearing in public fearing potential suicide bombers of the Haqqani Network. Enjoy the show.