[DAWN] Two more senior figures in the Taliban's Qatar...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates...
political office have resigned, Lions of Islam said Thursday, as the movement began efforts to reconcile feuding factions amid an increasingly bitter leadership struggle.
Splits have emerged at the top of the Taliban following the appointment of Mullah Akhtar Mansour as replacement for Mullah Omar
... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title
Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality...
, the movement's founding leader whose death was confirmed last week.
Read: Facing dissent, Afghan Taliban meet to resolve leadership dispute.
Some top leaders of the Islamist insurgency, including Omar's son and brother, have refused to pledge allegiance to Mansour, saying the process to select him was rushed and even biased.
Tayeb Agha, the head of the Qatar political office set up in 2013 to facilitate talks with Kabul
...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title
Most Evil Man in the Worldand didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either....
, resigned on Monday in protest at Mansour's appointment and on Thursday two more members followed suit.
Take a look: Head of Taliban's Qatar office quits.
Former diplomat Aziz Rehman and Mawlavi Nek Mohammad, who served as a deputy minister during Taliban rule, both stepped down, according to a statement issued through a recognised Twitter account used by the political office.
The bad boy group on Thursday named Tayeb's deputy Muhammad Abbas Stanakzai, who served in the 1996-2001 Taliban government, as the acting head of the Qatar office.
The news, underlining the deepening divisions in the movement, came as Death Eater sources said holy mans were leading meetings in Pakistain, where some Afghan Taliban capos are in hiding, to try to patch things up.
At one gathering on Wednesday, Mansour met Omar's brother Mullah Abdul Manan and urged him to accept his leadership to ensure the unity of the movement, Death Eater sources told AFP.
Omar's son Mullah Yakoub has been touted as a possible alternative leader, but a Taliban cadre said some senior holy mans are openly opposed to him.
They argue the family link is not a good reason to be chosen as Taliban leader, saying Islam as a religion is against choosing someone on the basis of inheritance.
The bid to heal the rifts is expected to drag on for weeks, depriving the Taliban of clear leadership at a crucial moment as it considers whether to pursue a grinding of the peace processor with Kabul and faces a rising threat from the rival Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
group.
Many Lions of Islam oppose what they see as Pakistain's attempt to force the Taliban into direct peace talks with the Afghan government.
Mansour and his two newly named deputies are seen as close to the Pak military establishment, which has historically nurtured and supported the Taliban.
But despite the divisions, there has been no let up in bad boy attacks.
A total of nine people were killed Thursday in multiple attacks on police targets -- the first first major Taliban assaults since the announcement of Omar's death.