Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, the Taliban’s defense minister, emphasized the need to eliminate distrust and internal sabotage among Taliban members.
Speaking at a ceremony in Kabul on Tuesday afternoon, he said, “Our enemies are trying to sow distrust among us, and this mentality must be eradicated.”
This statement comes amidst reports of internal rift among Taliban leadership.
Previously, Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, in his Eid al-Adha speech in May in Kandahar, hinted to Taliban leaders that he would welcome being removed from leadership if they acted in unity and solidarity.
Akhundzada has also urged Taliban members to avoid public criticism of each other.
Meanwhile, Sirajuddin Haqqani, Taliban’s interior minister, implicitly accused the Taliban leadership of monopolizing power, stating that the “current situation is intolerable.”
Without naming anyone specifically, Haqqani remarked, “We believe we are so entitled that challenging, monopolizing, and discrediting the entire system has become ingrained in our mindset.”
Taliban has consistently denied the existence of significant rifts among their senior members and leadership, asserting that all their actions follow the leader’s directives. However, the public statements by prominent figures like Yaqoob Mujahid and Sirajuddin Haqqani suggest underlying tensions within the Taliban ranks, with occasional expressions of dissatisfaction.
