Is An Afghan Taliban Civil War Beginning?

Taliban Civil War Looms as Peacemaker is Shot -- Jacob Siegel and Sami Yousafzai, Daily Beast

A Taliban minister tries to negotiate with the Afghan government, and ends up dead—maybe at the hands of his fellow militants.

Taliban minister Mulvi Abdul Raqib was assassinated in Peshawar, Pakistan on Monday. And the most likely suspects are other, hardline members of the Taliban.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for Raqib’s killing. But according to both Taliban and Afghan government sources, the assassination was in retaliation for Raqib’s attempts to make peace with the government of Afghan president Hamid Karzai. That’s something many Taliban factions vehemently oppose—perhaps with lethal force. In other words, Raqib’s slaying could signal an internal war within the Taliban, with those supporting a negotiated end to the 13-year conflict in Afghanistan on one side, and the Taliban’s most hardcore elements on the other.

The American, Afghan, and Pakistani governments are all making efforts to find a way to come to some sort of political settlement with the Taliban and its allies before U.S. troops begin leaving Afghanistan later this year. If the Taliban is indeed at the early stages of some sort of civil war, that wouldn’t just complicate the peace process. It could render it useless.

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My Comment: He was the one pushing for peace .... so it is not too hard to figure out who wanted him dead (i.e. Taliban hardliners, members within Pakistan's intelligence service, warlords, war profiteers, people bent on revenge, etc.).