Afghan Taliban dissidents have named Mullah Mohammad Rasool as the head of a splinter group following the collapse of months’ long efforts to end the rift within the insurgent group, two Taliban leaders claimed. Rasool was among those who had refused to pledge allegiance to Mullah Akhtar Mansoor as the new Taliban chief. Mansoor, who was elected in early August after the confirmation of death of the Taliban’s longtime supreme leader Mullah Muhammad Omar, has strengthened control over the movement; however, the rebel group will haunt him. The Taliban rebels, who call themselves as the ‘High Council of Afghanistan Islamic Emirate’ also appointed senior commander, Mansoor Dadullah, as deputy, according to the sources close to the dissidents. Dadullah’s joining of the splinter group would be seen as a challenge to Akhtar Mansoor because of his influence in southern Afghanistan. This is not the Taliban playing musical chairs. There is a very real and potentially deadly power struggle going on within the group, and there is a long history of settling disputes by force of arms. It is too early to say if events in Afghanistan will impact Pakistan, but given that any differentiation between the Pakistan and Afghan Taliban is all but invisible in practicality, there will be reverberations on this side of the border. Theoretically, the split and the challenge to Akhtar Mansoor have the potential to weaken the Taliban — divide and rule — but with the Afghan Taliban on an uptick militarily this year, such a degrading of capacity could remain theoretical. Yet another unknown is how the Haqqani network is going to cast its cards. Ideologically aligned with the Taliban and rising in parallel with al Qaeda, the Haqqani network has retained cohesion as al Qaeda has faded from the Afghan stage. The Afghan Taliban have demonstrated a remarkable durability over the years and they remain undefeated.
pk.shafaqna.com
