Talibans Abdul Ghani Baradar hurt in clashes with Haqqani Network: Report

Taliban’s
political head and the likely leader of Afghanistan’s government Mullah Abdul
Ghani Baradar has reportedly been injured in a clash with ally group, the
Haqqani Network, according to a Times Of India report. The attack on the senior
Taliban leader prompted the chief of Pakistan’s ISI, Lt Gen Faiz Hameed to rush
to Kabul on Saturday to act as a troubleshooter. 

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Speaking to the
media upon his arrival in Kabul, Faiz Hameed had said, “Don’t worry, everything
will be okay.” When asked about whether the ISI chief will meet the Taliban
leadership in Afghanistan, Hameed reportedly looked at Pakistan’s Ambassador to
Afghanistan Mansour Ahmed Khan, before responding, “I have just landed. We are
working for peace and stability in Afghanistan,” reports PTI. The ISI chief’s
visit was the first official visit by any Pakistani official in Afghanistan
since the Taliban took over.

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Gunfire was heard
in Kabul on Friday night, according to local media sources quoted by ANI. The
gunfire was reportedly the result of clashes between Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar
and Anas Haqqani.

Michael Rubin, a member
of the American Enterprise Institute, wrote on US website 19fortyfive.com that
Taliban could not unveil its government on its planned date of September 3
because the Haqqani Network and other factions within the Taliban did not agree
to accept Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada as their supreme leader.

According to
Rubin, the Taliban are a fractured group divided into multiple factions. “The Quetta
Shura is different from the Haqqani Network is different from the Northern
Taliban,” Rubin wrote.

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Following the ISI
chief’s visit to Afghanistan, former Afghanistan Amrullah Saleh was quoted by
Daily Mail as saying that the Taliban were being micromanaged by the ISI. “The
Taliban’s spokesperson receives directions literally every hour, from the
Pakistani embassy.”

Pakistani media
reports indicated that ISI chief Faiz Hameed was in Afghanistan to meet leaders
of the Taliban and discuss “issues relating to Pak-Afghan security, economy and
other matters” with the Taliban leadership.