The Taliban Are Turning On Each Other

Sami Yousafzai, Daily Beast: The Taliban Turn On Each Other, But That May Not Be Good News

Open fighting reportedly has broken out between Taliban factions claiming the mantle of the late Mullah Omar—and that has Western diplomats in Kabul worried.

KABUL — Fierce fighting reportedly broke out over the weekend between rival Taliban groups, raising concerns that no faction will be strong enough to make a peace deal, even if it were inclined to do so, and possibly opening the way to more recruitment by the growing forces in Afghanistan of the so-called Islamic State.

While the United States and the Kabul government previously sought to “divide and conquer” the group, under the current circumstances in Afghanistan, this latest development may only heighten the fracturing of society and the chaos of war.

Throughout most of the two decades the group has existed, under the leadership of the one-eyed Mullah Omar the Taliban showed remarkable unity. They took power in the mid-1990s, then were ousted by the American-led invasion in 2001 for protecting Osama bin Laden, and in the years since they’ve struggled to retake the government—but, still, they stuck together.

WNU Editor: I can now understand why current Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour kept the death of its founder (Mullah Omar) secret for 2 years .... he knew that the Taliban would splinter with  competing commanders and chiefs taking advantage of the leadership vacuum to position themselves in being the next leader. Here is an easy prediction .... this infighting is going to get worse. As to this new Taliban faction .... they are not moderate at all .... Deputy emir of ‘moderate’ Taliban faction oversaw ‘massacre of thousands of Shiites’ (Long War Journal).