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Afghanistan

More resignations as Taliban try to heal leadership rift

2015-08-07

[DAWN] Two more senior figures in the Taliban's Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... political office have resigned, Lions of Islam said Thursday, as the movement began efforts to reconcile feuding factions amid an increasingly bitter leadership struggle. Splits have emerged at the top of the Taliban following the appointment of Mullah Akhtar Mansour as replacement for Mullah Omar ... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality... , the movement's founding leader whose death was confirmed last week. Read: Facing dissent, Afghan Taliban meet to resolve leadership dispute. Some top leaders of the Islamist insurgency, including Omar's son and brother, have refused to pledge allegiance to Mansour, saying the process to select him was rushed and even biased. Tayeb Agha, the head of the Qatar political office set up in 2013 to facilitate talks with Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... , resigned on Monday in protest at Mansour's appointment and on Thursday two more members followed suit. Take a look: Head of Taliban's Qatar office quits. Former diplomat Aziz Rehman and Mawlavi Nek Mohammad, who served as a deputy minister during Taliban rule, both stepped down, according to a statement issued through a recognised Twitter account used by the political office. The bad boy group on Thursday named Tayeb's deputy Muhammad Abbas Stanakzai, who served in the 1996-2001 Taliban government, as the acting head of the Qatar office. The news, underlining the deepening divisions in the movement, came as Death Eater sources said holy mans were leading meetings in Pakistain, where some Afghan Taliban capos are in hiding, to try to patch things up. At one gathering on Wednesday, Mansour met Omar's brother Mullah Abdul Manan and urged him to accept his leadership to ensure the unity of the movement, Death Eater sources told AFP. Omar's son Mullah Yakoub has been touted as a possible alternative leader, but a Taliban cadre said some senior holy mans are openly opposed to him. They argue the family link is not a good reason to be chosen as Taliban leader, saying Islam as a religion is against choosing someone on the basis of inheritance. The bid to heal the rifts is expected to drag on for weeks, depriving the Taliban of clear leadership at a crucial moment as it considers whether to pursue a grinding of the peace processor with Kabul and faces a rising threat from the rival Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group. Many Lions of Islam oppose what they see as Pakistain's attempt to force the Taliban into direct peace talks with the Afghan government. Mansour and his two newly named deputies are seen as close to the Pak military establishment, which has historically nurtured and supported the Taliban. But despite the divisions, there has been no let up in bad boy attacks. A total of nine people were killed Thursday in multiple attacks on police targets -- the first first major Taliban assaults since the announcement of Omar's death.

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Afghanistan

Head of Taliban's Qatar-based political office Tayeb Agha quits as leadership rift deepens

2015-08-05

[ABC.NET.AU] The head of the Taliban's Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... -based political office has stepped down in a move highlighting growing discord over the group's recent power transition. Mullah Akhtar Mansour was announced as the new Taliban chief on Friday after the turbans confirmed the death of Mullah Omar ... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality... , who led the bad boy movement for some 20 years. But splits immediately emerged between Mansour and rivals challenging his appointment, exposing the Taliban's biggest leadership crisis in recent years and one that raises the risk of a factional split. Underscoring the deepening internal divisions, Tayeb Agha stepped down on Monday as head of the Taliban's political office, set up in Qatar in 2013 to facilitate peace talks. "In order to live with a clear conscience and abide by the principles of Mullah Omar, I decided that my work as head of the political office has ended," Mr Agha said in the statement published on a website regularly used by the Doha office and confirmed by a Taliban source. "I will not be involved in any kind of [Taliban] statements... and will not support any side in the current internal disputes within the Taliban." Mr Agha added that consensus should have been sought from holy warrior strongholds inside Afghanistan over the new leader's appointment. The Taliban source said Mansour's aides were trying to convince Mr Agha to withdraw his resignation but his statement adds to a growing chorus of dissent in the movement over the increasingly bitter political transition. "The death of Mullah Omar was kept secret for two years," Mr Agha said. "I consider this a historical mistake." The Taliban have not given details of when and where Omar died but the Afghan government said it happened in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... in April 2013. The Taliban continued to release official statements in the name of Omar, who had not been seen in public since the Taliban were toppled from power in 2001, as recently as last month. Many turbans oppose what they see as Pakistain's attempt to force the Taliban into direct peace talks with the Afghan government. Mansour and his two newly named deputies -- influential religious leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Sirajuddin Haqqani -- are all seen as close to the Pak military establishment, which has historically nurtured and supported the Taliban.

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Afghanistan

Taliban in Qatar see no early peace talks with US

2013-04-19

DOHA/KABUL: Taliban leaders living in Qatar have held no Afghanistan peace talks with US officials in the Gulf state for more than a year and see no prospect of any soon, Taliban sources say. A team of envoys from the insurgent group flew to Qatar in early 2012 to open talks with the US government, which has laid a greater emphasis on negotiations before a handover of security to Afghan forces in 2014. Among the most prominent members of the delegation in Doha is Tayeb Agha, the former chief of staff to the Taliban’s reclusive leader Mullah Mohammed Blinky Omar. But more than a year later, the negotiations held in March 2012 have not been followed by further meetings, Taliban sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Many of the Taliban leaders living in Qatar now appear to spend their time pursuing private family activities. Many can be seen at the shopping malls of the gas-rich Gulf Arab state with the little women, pushing trolleys loaded with merchandise and with their children in tow. Domestic life in Qatar has to beat being a guerrilla in the hills outside of Kandahar... “There has been no contact from the US with us at all this year,” said a Taliban source on the condition of anonymity. No date had been set to restart the talks, he said, declining to give any further details. Doesn't sound like the leadership wants any talks, either, as long as Qatar keeps filling the shopping carts... Talks among the United States, Pakistan and the Taliban about a possible Afghan settlement have made scant progress in the past few years. The Taliban suspended the talks in March 2012, saying Washington was giving mixed signals on the nascent Afghan reconciliation process. “Taliban had asked for the exchange of prisoners and recognition as a group, but as far as I know there have been no more talks,” said Mohammed Himat, counsellor at the Afghan Embassy in Doha, told Reuters.

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Afghanistan

Taliban diplomats arrive in Qatar

2012-01-27

A team of senior Taliban diplomats The Taliban has 'diplomats' ? has arrived in Qatar in preparation for the opening of a political office to host negotiations between America, the insurgents and the Afghan government. The envoys from the former regime have assembled in the past month and the first tentative talks could begin within weeks according to former Taliban officials now part of Hamid Karzai's peace council. A Taliban declaration earlier this month that the movement would open an office "to come to an understanding with other nations" is seen as the most significant political breakthrough in ten years of conflict. The delegation was apparently granted safe passage to the Gulf state despite several members still being on a United Nations' sanctions blacklist banning international travel. It includes Tayeb Agha, former secretary to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, who has acted as go-between with American and German diplomats for more than a year. He is joined by Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, a former deputy foreign minister, and Shahabuddin Delawar, a former envoy to Riyadh, according to Mohammed Qalamuddin. Mr Qalamuddin, once chief of the Taliban's "vice and virtue" police, told The Daily Telegraph the envoys were all well-educated, fluent in English and considered moderate, but committed to the movement. So they still favor beheading infidels, oppressing wimmin and preventing anything after the 12th century from coming into Afghanistan, except for their own creature comforts... It's so much easier to bug their phones and laptops -- and follow their messengers home -- when they're so helpfully out there in the open.

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Afghanistan

Taliban says want no part of tribal peace talks

2006-12-12

The Taliban on Monday backed away from comments they might join tribal councils aimed at ending growing violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Senior spokesman Sayed Tayeb Agha said the rebels would never join such talks as long as foreign soldiers remained in Afghanistan. "Such jirgas (councils) are aimed at protecting American interests only. Such jirgas are neither independent nor do they take independent decisions," he told Reuters from Quetta a secret location. "Such jirgas (councils) are aimed at protecting American interests only. Such jirgas are neither independent nor do they take independent decisions," he told Reuters from Quetta a secret location. "The Taliban will not take part in any jirga in the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan because such jirgas or meetings have no significance." There are about 40,000 foreign troops in the country under separate NATO and U.S. commands. But while Afghanistan and Pakistan agree jirgas should be held, they have so far failed to agree on when, how or who should be included. Kabul wants all Afghan tribes involved. Islamabad wants the councils restricted to the border tribes -- essentially the Pashtuns from which the Taliban draws its support. Government and political leaders in both countries say at least moderate elements of the resurgent Taliban must be included in any talks to end the fighting. A Taliban spokesman said on Sunday the group might join the jirga talks if asked, but Agha -- a more senior official closer to the group's leader -- said that did not reflect the militants' position. Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri met officials in Kabul on the jirgas last week but no agreement was reached.

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