Afghanistan: Supreme Taliban leader orders "to eradicate" traitors within the movement

In his function as supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, who lives in hiding, is responsible for maintaining the union and deciding the main internal orientations within the movement (Photo released on May 25, 2016).

STR Afghan Taliban / AFP / Archivos

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

In a rare intervention relayed this Thursday by spokespersons for the new government in Kabul, the supreme leader of the Taliban, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, ordered those in charge of the movement to find and "

eradicate 

" possible adversaries infiltrated in their communities. ranks.

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It is a message that comes after a series of bloody attacks against the new regime in Kabul by the Islamic State group in Khorasan (EI-K), the local branch of the jihadist group.

This rare intervention by the spiritual leader of the Taliban testifies to the gravity of the situation.

Since his appointment in 2016, Mullah Akhundzada has never appeared in public, has lived in hiding, including since the Taliban took power, and has only shared a few rare messages with the faithful during Muslim holidays.

The supreme leader therefore called on the elders, all the heads of unit, to scrupulously inspect their ranks and to flush out the traitors who will have to be " 

eradicated 

".

Fears of possible infiltrators 

It must be said that the Taliban have recruited a lot in recent months to reconquer the country.

And fears of possible infiltrators, especially from the rival Islamic State group, are very real.

The Taliban are not a homogeneous group.

In more than 20 years of war, hundreds of units have joined their ranks as well as subgroups belonging to different factions, sometimes at odds.

Finally, the death earlier this week of a very

senior Taliban official

in a

suicide attack

, claimed by the Islamic State group, was a blow to the Taliban and could upset the balance of power between the two rival groups. 

To read also: Kabul attack: the IS-K, sworn enemy of the Taliban who could need the West

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  • Afghanistan

  • Taliban

  • EI

  • Terrorism