The whereabouts of Afghanistan Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Baradar are still unknown as there is an open power struggle within the Taliban ranks. Also, the whereabouts of the Taliban’s spiritual leader Haibatullah Akhundzada remains unknown and some have speculated he might be even dead.

UK-based magazine The Spectator on Monday (September 20) reported that a recent clash during the government formation between the Baradar faction and the Haqqani network may have led to the disappearance of the co-founder of the Taliban and the former has now most likely emerged as the “principal loser”.

It is well known that the Haqqani Network is one of the major proxies of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) which did not want Baradar to take power in Afghanistan and threw its weight behind the Haqqanis when ISI chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed travelled to Kabul to smooth things over.

Gen Hameed is the same senior Pakistan military officer who as per reports was shot by his wife after she caught him with another woman Aroosa Alam who is also well known in India.

It has emerged that the Mullah Baradar and Mullah Akhundzada camp wanted to make some concessions in order to gain legitimacy but after the backing of the Pakistan Army, all key positions have now been the hardline Haqqani network and it wants to extend Jihad to central Asia and India.

According to a report published in The Spectator, both sides clashed in early September which saw “furniture as well as large thermos flasks full of hot green tea thrown around”.

Haqqani network leader Khalil-ul-Rahman Haqqani actually rose from his chair and began punching Baradar after the latter had pushed for an “inclusive” cabinet that included non-Taliban leaders and ethnic minorities, which would be more acceptable to the rest of the world.

To quell the rumours of his Baradar disappearance,  a meeting of tribal leaders was held who are supporting him, but was also forced to release a video message on the state-run TV network controlled by the Taliban which many thought “looked like a hostage video”, The Spectator reported.

However, the whereabouts of Akhundzada who was supposed to be the Amir-ul-Momineen (Commander of the faithful) is not known. “He has not been seen or heard from for some time, and there are many rumors that he is dead,” reported The Spectator.

It must be noted that the Taliban had kept the death of its first leader Mullah Omar a secret for few years and there is a vacuum at the top which could lead to civil war.

It must be noted that Mullah Baradar spent nearly ten years in a Pakistani prison where he was allegedly tortured by the ISI. When he was released from prison, it was he who led the Doha talks and try to project a moderate image of the Taliban.

On the other hand, the Haqqanis have been responsible for numerous suicide attacks and it is one of its Modus Operandi to terrorise opponents and also they are very close to Pakistan’s security apparatus and take their name from the Darul Uloom Haqqania madrassa near Islamabad.

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The Taliban which took over Kabul on August, as per reports is all set to form a new Sharia-compliant Islamic administration after Friday (jummah) afternoon prayers. The new authority will be most like the one in Iran where the Ayatollah is the spiritual leader.

In Afghanistan, the group’s top spiritual leader will be Amir ul Momineen Haibatullah Akhundzada who will now act as the supreme authority. Also, Akhundzada has been referred to as  “za’eem” or “rahbar” in official discourse, both meaning “leader,” an Islamic theocratic title.

According to Bilal Karimi, a member of the Taliban’s cultural commission said on Thursday (September 2) that leaders within the Taliban have reached a “consensus” on the formation of a new government and cabinet under Akhundzada’s leadership.

“The consultations on forming an inclusive Afghan government within the Islamic Emirate’s leaders, with the leaders from the previous government and other influential leaders have officially ended,” Karimi was quoted as saying by Bloomberg. “They have reached a consensus. We’re about to announce a functioning cabinet and government in a few days, not weeks,” he added.

Along with Haibatullah Akhundzada, the other people who will be in the governing council is the co-founder of the Taliban Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who will be the public face of the Taliban and is likely to be in charge of the daily functioning of the government. Also, in the cabinet will be the Haqqani Network leader Sirajuddin Haqqani and son of Mullah Omar, Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob. 

The Taliban after it took power promised to be a more “inclusive” government and be more accommodating and will not implement the brutal and violent interpretation of Sharia, and its treatment of women. However, it is clear that these were just words meant for public relations because already there are several restrictions on women which include freedom of movement and girls being banned from school.

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A two-page statement congratulating the Taliban was released by the Islamic terror group Al-Qaeda and it said the victory of the Taliban is a cause of celebration for the “Islamic Ummah” i.e. the entire Islamic community in Afghanistan and presumably in all of Asia.

According to the reports, the congratulatory message was released by As-Sahab, al Qaeda’s media arm, in Arabic and English hours after the last American soldiers left Afghanistan.

Earlier United States President Joe Biden had famously claimed that Al Qaedahas been destroyed and in his address to the nation on Tuesday September 1 said, “We delivered justice to bin Laden on May 2nd, 2011, over a decade ago. Al-Qaeda was decimated,” however this boombastic statement seems was only meant for his domstic audiance.

In its statement titled “Congratulations to the Islamic Ummah on the victory granted by Allah in Afghanistan!”, Al-Qaeda’s leadership has praised Allah for the victory, saying it “soothed” their hearts to hear verses from the Quran recited in the Presidential Palace in Kabul after it had been “cleansed from the filth of the Americans”.

Also, in the statement, Al-Qaeda called for the “liberation of Kashmir” and other so-called Islamic lands from the “clutches of the enemies of Islam”.

“We praise the Almighty, the Omnipotent, who humiliated and defeated America, the head of disbelief,” the statement read, adding, “We praise Him for breaking America’s back, tarnishing its global reputation and expelling it, disgraced and humiliated, from the Islamic land of Afghanistan.”

The terror group which carried out the 9/11 attack twenty years ago said that the Taliban as the Islamic Emirate was a “graveyard of empires” and an “impregnable fortress” and praised four Taliban leaders for achieving victory in Afghanistan, the three emirs of the group since its founding, and Jalaluddin Haqqani, a close confidant of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.

“On this historic occasion, we would like to offer our congratulations to the leadership of the Islamic Emirate, specifically Haibatullah Akhundzada,” the statement read. “May Allah accept your martyrs – the men, women and children who offered sacrifices in this path!” the statement said.

Al-Qaeda praised Mullah Omar who defied America by refusing to turn over Osama bin Laden in 2001. “With firm trust in Allah’s promise of victory, [Omar] made his famous statement, the echo of which can be heard today, loud and clear, all across Afghanistan, indeed all across the Islamic World,” the letter read.  

Al-Qaeda then describes Mullah Omar’s vow in 2001 that read, “Allah has promised us victory, and Bush has promised us defeat; we shall see which of the two promises shall be fulfilled!”.

The statement continues, “May Allah bless the soul of the Emir of the Believers, the defiant, uncompromising leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansour!”.

Al-Qaeda also asks Allah to “have mercy on the mentor of the Mujahideen, the father of martyrs, Sheikh Jalaluddin Haqqani.”

“We call upon the Afghan nation to abide by the decisions and Shariah-based policies of the blessed Islamic Emirate,” the statement read. Al Qaeda also asked the Islamic ummah to extend its total support to the Islamic Emirate in all fields, specifically at this critical juncture in which all forces of disbelief have set their eyes upon this Islamic nation.

In the detailed statement issued by Al-Qaeda it called for liberation of Kashmir, Palestine, the Levant, Somalia, and Yemen.

“0′ Allah! Liberate the Levant, Somalia, Yemen, Kashmir and the rest of the Islamic lands from the clutches of the enemies of Islam. 0’ Allah! Grant freedom to Muslim prisoners across the world”.

Al-Qaeda has said that the victory of the Taliban over the US  has proved that the way of Jihad is the only way that can defeat the “American Empire of Evil” and is a “tremendous source of inspiration for the oppressed of the world,”.

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