The Pakistan Taliban

Reuters has a story today that may begin to open up the story of the death of Mullah Omar and why the Taliban thought better of announcing it until two years after it happened.  That mess is described in the resignation of Syed Mohammad Tayab Agha as director of the Political Office in the Qatari capital Doha.    [Jibran Ahmadibran Ahmad, New Taliban leader facing tension as top official quits, 4 August]

Agha listed a few things as reasons for his resignation:

1.     The new leadership is made up of people living outside the country.

2.    He blames Mullah Monsour for the concealment of the death of Mullah Omar, something he calls a ‘historic mistake by the individuals concerned’

3.    The Taliban are taking on roles outside of Afghanistan and that is not good for them. 

Ahmad describes a little more that might account for the sudden departure of Agha and the splits in the Taliban who seem to be supported by the Pakistanis.  Monsour sent a delegation of “peace negotiators” to talk to the Afghan government but didn’t include Agha who is the lead negotiator in Doha.  That must have hurt.  It sets Monsour ahead of the other factions of Taliban and shows the Pakistan Intelligence Service (ISI) favors him.  That alone will make him the tacit leader of the clans. 

Fighting has erupted between various factions in the Taliban, something the Taliban denies, of course.  This has temporarily stopped the Taliban from fighting most everyone, which may be a good thing.  The only problem is the will of the fighters to fight leads to defections to ISIS.  The Taliban leadership has to contend with that external group, which is not fighting the war for them in Afghanistan.  Their leadership in the extremist groups is being challenged.


What we need to remember is that Pakistan is right in the middle of this.  When the Chinese were having trouble with the Uighurs, they went to Pakistan to talk about stopping the training of terrorists.  It seemed odd at the time, but maybe the Chinese were well informed about where the problems with Islamic extremists come from.  I’m having trouble believing the Iranians are the world’s leading supporters of terror when Pakistan seems to be holding its own.