By Sant Kumar Sharma
The presence of several UN-designated terrorists in the interim Taliban ministry, having bounties on their head, are proving to be problematic for Afghanistan. For Pakistan, particularly its ISI (Inter Services Intelligence), the Haqqanis have always been “good Taliban’’. But Sirajuddin Haqqani of this clan, who is now the Interior Minister of Afghanistan, carries a bounty of $10 million on his head from the US State Department. Some other Taliban ministers too have bounties on their heads. Per se, the Taliban as a group have not been designated a terrorist organisation internationally but many of their leaders are.
In such a scenario, can the US administration just turn a blind eye to that all and unfreeze the $9.5 billion of Afghan central bank money held in its banks? Can sanity dawn on the Taliban that such ministers are eyesores for the west and impede aid flow by their mere presence in the ministry?
All that seems unlikely for now and it seems that there is a stalemate already, most of it of the Taliban’s making. The ISI has played a leading role in it by ensuring that the Haqqanis get prime or pole positions in the interim government. To make it more than obvious how deeply it was involved in the Taliban affairs, ISI chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed stayed at Serena Hotel in Kabul when the interim government was being formed.
It is being said now that he was instrumental in undermining the group of Taliban, led by Mulla Baradar, who had negotiated the US exit at Doha over several months. There were reports at the time of government formation by Taliban that there was a clash between a Haqqani clan member and Mulla Baradar. There was then speculation that Baradar was badly injured (some rumours even suggested that he had died). He went away from Kabul along with his supporters and surfaced almost three weeks later. After his return, Baradar has refused to take the security provided by Siraj, choosing to be guarded by his own men.
All this has clearly shown to the world that there are deep differences among the Taliban, and they are far from a united entity. This clear indication of factionalism in the Taliban has eroded whatever little faith or trust anybody had in them collectively. The presence of designated terrorists amid the Taliban ministers is one reason for the UN to perhaps take less than ardent stand on the emerging situation in Afghanistan. UN chief Antonio Guterres has said already that the Taliban rulers have failed to create an “inclusive government’’ and this was a clear breach of what they had promised to the international community.
A blast in Kunduz moque had claimed over 150 lives last week and the responsibility for it was claimed by IS (Khorasan Province). It said the suicide bomber was an ethnic Uyghur and this has sent shock waves and after effects travelling all the way to Beijing. Incidentally, the Haqqanis, prodded by the ISI, had assured China that they will take action against the Uyghurs. Blaming it on US and claiming that it was an “American project’’ has failed to assure the Chinese who had, at one time, showed some interest in bailing out the Talban. The Chinese had made some public statements in Taliban’s favour but the Kunduz attack is making them rethink.
All this means the moderates among the Taliban, represented by the Doha group, are weaker as compared to the hardliners led by Haqqanis. It is unlikely that ethnicities like Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks, besides women, are going to get any representation in the Taliban government any time soon. In the absence of these groups in the ruling dispensation, there is no way it can be called inclusive, something unacceptable to the international community.
It seems now that Afghanistan is heading towards a very harsh winter, both figuratively and literally, in the coming weeks due to obduracy of the Taliban and little aid flowing in.
