Infighting between Taliban and Haqqani's have potential to ignite civil war in Afghanistan: Report

While this intra-Afghanistan conflict is a reality, the other more significant rationale for targeting Sirajuddin Haqqani in the 5 October attack is his pro-Pakistan and anti-education stance. Essentially, what we are witnessing today is a rift within the Taliban, i.e., between those loyal to Mullah Baradar and those with the Haqqani Network, reported Al Arabiya Post.

The suicide bomber who carried out the attack on the Al-Fatah Mosque within the compound of the Interior Ministry in Kabul on 5 October 2022 knew very well who his target was; Afghanistan's Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, who had inaugurated (14 August 2022) the Al-Fatah Mosque at the cost of 18 million Afghanis at his personal expense.

Some reports suggest that Sirajuddin Haqqani had come to pray at the site but left ten minutes prior to the blast. According to UK-based media, reports indicate that four people were killed in the suicide blast, carried out by a bomber with a prosthetic leg.

The Haqqani have differed from the top Taliban leadership in the past and it is likely that this could happen again, only this time violently!

The latest attack has come when fissures within the Taliban are growing and its contestation with the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) have only intensified, reported Al Arabiya Post.

"The mosque was used by visitors and sometimes by interior ministry employees," said interior ministry spokesman Abdul NafiTakor, who confirmed the casualty toll.

Moreover, an explosion at an education centre in West Kabul killed 53 people, most of them young women, according to the United Nations Mission to Afghanistan.

While no one has claimed responsibility for the suicide attack, initial reports suggest that the ISKP may have been responsible. The ISKP has been at the forefront in the war against the Taliban and carried out a number of suicide attacks on Taliban leaders in the last few months, reported Al Arabiya Post.

The Taliban, made up predominately of Pashtuns, is divided along ethnic, regional, and tribal lines. There are also differences among the militants over policy.

Pertinently, the Taliban is divided on the issue of girls and women's education. In the broader sense, one faction believes that restrictive decrees will make international recognition and sanctions removal harder to achieve.

The other faction believes that compromises will not lead to better ties with the West and the group should instead focus on bolstering its Islamist credentials and consolidate its control, reported Al Arabiya Post.

Earlier in August, a prominent Afghan cleric who supported the Taliban and was in favour of female education was killed. Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani reportedly died in a suicide bomb blast in Kabul.

Sheikh Haqqani was a supporter of Taliban government and a prominent critic of the jihadist militant group ISKP, an ISIS affiliate that operates in Afghanistan and opposes the Taliban's rule.

He is one of the highest profile figures to have been killed in the country since the Taliban returned to power, reported Al Arabiya Post.

Meanwhile, a bombing (August 18, 2022) at a mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul during evening prayers killed at least ten people, including a prominent cleric. The slain cleric was Mullah Amir Mohammad Kabuli, a prominent Hanafi cleric.

In July, a top Salafist cleric who had pledged allegiance to the Taliban was mysteriously killed at his home in Kabul. Sardar Wali Saqib was stabbed to death just days after attending a gathering of pro-Taliban clerics.

In November, a little-known ISKP ideologue Abu Mustafa Darveshzadeh was killed. He had written a highly critical book about the Taliban's approach to implementing Islamic Shari'a law.

The incidents suggest that the infighting within the Taliban as well as between the Taliban and ISKP could result in renewed civil war in Afghanistan, reported Al Arabiya Post.

With the economic and humanitarian situation quite out of control, Afghanistan's political masters must get their act together. Across the border, Pakistan awaits such a return to instability so that they can control the sinews of power.

It is well known that the Haqqani Network is a creation of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence and, they will do the bidding of their masters at the appropriate moment, reported Al Arabiya Post. (ANI)