RULING TALIBAN DISPLAY RARE DIVISION
Interior minister’s comments seen as critical of leader
A rare public show of division within the ranks of Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban emerged in recent days when Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, a powerful government figure, gave a speech seen as implicit criticism of the movement’s reclusive supreme leader.
The Taliban leadership has been opaque since the former insurgents’ takeover of the country in August 2021, with almost no indication of how decisions are made.
In recent months, the group’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, has appeared to take a stronger hand in directing policy. In particular, it was on his orders that the Taliban government banned women and girls from universities and schools after the sixth grade.
The bans raised a fierce international uproar, increasing Afghanistan’s isolation at a time when its economy has collapsed — and worsening a humanitarian crisis. The bans also appeared to contradict previous policies by the Taliban government.
Between the Taliban takeover and the December ban on attending universities, women had been allowed to continue their studies. Taliban officials repeatedly promised that girls would be allowed to attend secondary school, but a decision to allow them back last year was suddenly reversed.
Haqqani made his comments in a speech over the weekend to a graduation ceremony at an Islamic religious school in the eastern province of Khost.
“Monopolizing power and hurting the reputation of the entire system are not to our benefit,” Haqqani said, according to video clips of the speech released on social media by his supporters. “The situation cannot be tolerated,” he added.
Haqqani said now that the Taliban have taken power, “more responsibility has been placed on our shoulders and it requires patience and good behavior and engagement with the people.” He said the Taliban must “soothe the wounds of the people” and act in a way that the people do not come to hate them and religion.
Haqqani did not refer to Akhundzada, but the remarks were seen by many commenting on social media as directed at him
Zabihullah Mujahed, the top spokesman for the Kabul government, said in an apparent reaction to Haqqani’s comments — without naming him — that criticism is best voiced privately.
“If someone criticizes the emir, minister, or any other official, it is better — and Islamic ethics also say — that he should express his criticism directly and secretly to him,” not in public, he said.
Akhundzada, an Islamic scholar, almost never appears in public and hardly ever leaves the Taliban heartland in Kandahar province.
He surrounds himself with other religious scholars and tribal leaders who oppose education and work for women. Akhundzada has traveled to Kabul only once since the Taliban takeover, to give a speech to an assembly of pro-Taliban clerics.
The Taliban have typically dealt with internal differences behind the scenes, and Haqqani’s comments “are a major escalation,” said Michael Kugelman, the deputy director of the Asia program and senior associate for South Asia at the Wilson Center. The Taliban leaders have the same broad vision, but “in Kandahar, they’re hermits, they’re not involved in the day-to-day,” said Kugelman. In Kabul, they have to govern and provide services, he said.
Ahmed Rashid, a veteran Lahore-based journalist who wrote several books about the Taliban, said that unity is a priority for the Taliban in the face of what they see as U.S. and NATO threats, and it’s doubtful there is “any kind of revolt” within the ranks. But those in the Taliban leadership dealing with the burden of government have “realized they can’t continue like this,” he said.