On Wednesday, Taliban paid a visit to the closed Indian consulates in Kandahar and Herat, searching cupboards for papers in Kandahar and removing parked vehicles from both embassies, all while conducting door-to-door searches in Kabul to identify Afghans who worked for the state-run intelligence agency NDS. There are no details about what is going on with the Indian consulate in Jalalabad or the mission in Kabul.
According to reports from Kabul, the Haqqani Network has taken control of the capital city, led by Anas Haqqani, brother of the terrorist group’s leader and deputy Taliban leader, Sirajuddin Haqqani.
While Anas Haqqani met with former President Hamid Karzai, Chairman of the HCNR Abdullah Abdullah, and Hezb-e-Islami veteran Gulbuddin Hetkmatyar, it is understood that the Taliban restrict and control both Karzai and Abdullah’s movements.
Negotiations are currently underway to ensure that both Karzai and Abdullah formally hand over power to Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Barader in a staged event at the Presidential Palace. Sirajuddin Haqqani is said to be relaying orders from the Taliban’s leadership council, the Quetta Shura, in Quetta.
According to reports from Kandahar, Taliban members broke the locks of the Indian consulate and searched it. They also took diplomatic vehicles that were parked nearby. They entered the consulate compound in Herat and took the vehicles without forcibly entering the consulate.
While the Haqqani network controls much of Kabul, the Taliban faction led by Mullah Yaqoob, son of the late Mullah Omar and head of the Taliban military commission, is planning a takeover of power and government in Kandahar, the Pashtuns’ traditional seat. Mullah Barader met Mullah Yaqoob on August 18 after he arrived from Doha. Mullah Yaqoob’s father was declared dead in Kandahar.
Although the Taliban leadership is negotiating the formation of a government in Kabul, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a fellow Deobandi terrorist group based in Pakistan, is reportedly demanding a piece of the Afghan pie in the form of jagirs or land in southern Afghanistan. With the Taliban’s victory in Kabul, there is joy among the JeM and their handlers in Rawalpindi, as the invaders have seized vast sums of money as well as top-of-the-line US weapons and military vehicles.
While India and its close allies remain on the sidelines, the Taliban are gaining support from the United Kingdom, whose Chief of Defence Staff, General Nick Carter, has openly advocated for the Sunni Pashtun group.
He described them as “country boys… with a code of honour” in an interview with Sky News. Carter and the Pakistan Army were instrumental in keeping the Doha process alive, resulting in what is now widely recognised as a sub-optimal deal between the United States and the Taliban.
