\u2022 Report claims Hibatullah Akhundzada \u2018spooked\u2019 by possibility of schism between his hardline base in the south, more pragmatic ministers in the capital
\n\u2022 Zabihullah Mujahid \u2018confirms\u2019 existence of audio recording, but terms BBC claim \u2018unfounded\u2019<\/p>\n
A STARK message from the Taliban supreme leader, warning of internal threats to the Islamic Emirate, has seemingly laid bare the long-speculated divide bet\u00adween Kandahar and Kabul, BBC News reported.<\/p>\n
An audio recording of a speech \u2014 delivered by Hibat\u00adullah Akhundzada at a seminary in Kandahar aro\u00adund a year ago \u2014 contains what some are interpreting as confirmation of differences among top Taliban leaders.<\/p>\n
In the leaked clip, obtained by the BBC, Akhundzada can be heard saying that internal disagreements could eventually bring them all down.<\/p>\n
According to the investigation by BBC Afghan, two distinct groups have eme\u00adrged within the Afghan Tali\u00adban, each presenting competing visions for how Afgh\u00adanistan should be governed.<\/p>\n
One is entirely loyal to the Akhundzada-led Kandahar faction, who is driving the country towards his vision of a strict Islamic Emirate \u2014 isolated from the modern world, where religious figures loyal to him control every aspect of society.<\/p>\n
The second faction is made up of powerful Taliban members largely based in the capital Kabul, advocating for an Afghanistan which \u2014 while still following a strict interpretation of Islam \u2014 engages with the outside world, builds the country\u2019s economy, and even allows girls and women access to an education they are currently denied beyond primary school.<\/p>\n
The question was always whether the Kabul group \u2014 made up of Taliban cabinet ministers, powerful militants and influential religious scholars commanding the support of thousands of Taliban loyalists \u2014 would ever challenge Akhundzada in any meaningful way, as his speech suggested.<\/p>\n
Then came a decision which would see the delicate tug of war between the most powerful men in the country escalate into a clash of wills.<\/p>\n
In late September, Akhun\u00addzada ordered the internet and phones to be shut off, severing Afghanistan from the rest of the world. But just three days later the internet was back, with no explanation of why.<\/p>\n
What had happened behind the scenes was seismic, insiders said. It was thought that the Kabul group had acted against Akhundzada\u2019s order and switched the internet back on. According to one expert, this was nothing short of rebellion for a group that doesn\u2019t brook dissent amongst its echelons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2022 Report claims Hibatullah Akhundzada \u2018spooked\u2019 by possibility of schism between his hardline base in the south, more pragmatic ministers in the capital \u2022 Zabihullah Mujahid \u2018confirms\u2019 existence of audio recording, but terms BBC claim \u2018unfounded\u2019 A STARK message from the Taliban supreme leader, warning of internal threats to the Islamic Emirate, has seemingly laid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15316,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15315"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15317,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15315\/revisions\/15317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}