Geopolitics

I wonder if we’re on the verge of a civil war among Talibans in Afghanistan — between the powerful Haqqani faction in Kabul and the religious Kandahari faction, with the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) jihadists stirring up the pot.

Several Haqqanis have been killed, detained, or exiled in the last three months, and now this seemingly retaliatory explosion in Kunduz targeting the Kandahari faction.

I wonder if we’re on the verge of a civil war among Talibans in Afghanistan — between the powerful Haqqani faction in Kabul and the religious Kandahari faction, with the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) jihadists stirring up the pot.

Several Haqqanis have been killed, detained, or exiled in the last three months, and now this seemingly retaliatory explosion in Kunduz targeting the Kandahari faction.

https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2025/2/11/bomb-blast-kills-at-least-five-in-afghanistan

Aviator, diver, Etherean, nexialist, PhD in aviation ∩ climate science | Host of /diving /ethfinance /eth-staker /geopolitics /science /singapore /thomas

Hopefully the Haqqanis come out on top. They seemed to be reaching out to the U.S. lately as well.

Writer, podcaster, and commentator on foreign affairs and politics. Runs /dropglobalnews

Clanker Broadcasting Service /cbs

This is crucial difference, the Haqqanis (and Doha-based Taliban) spent many years of the war outside of the country or in touch with foreigners and realized how much of a insane outlier their policies are and how they made no sense (something actually told to me by a disgruntled senior Taliban official) whereas the Kandaharis literally never left Kandahar and nothing in their views have changed. Akhundzada has never even watched television, reportedly.

They’re also the slightly less insane and less misogynistic bunch (all other things equal) — part of their beef with the Kandahari salafists is that they think the country might benefit from giving women some education. How radical of them