With the inclusion of more hardline Taliban leaders as members of the group’s negotiating team the dialogue, which were forecasted to experience more hurdles, has now hit a wall over a disagreement on exact terminology to refer the Afghan war
@Kunal_Chonkar
New Delhi: Last week, the lingering disagreements over the exact terminology to be used to refer to the war in Afghanistan stalled the ongoing peace talks between the Afghan Government and the Taliban in Doha of Qatar. As Kabul continues to enunciate its perspective on the past, the Taliban continue to muscle their jihadi approach. Pressing down and putting out hard negotiation lines are 21 Taliban members, who were appointed after a major reshuffle in their political office for the intra-Afghan talks, inaugurated on September 12. While, most members of the team have previously been a part of the Taliban’s delegation for negotiations, which ultimately led to a peace agreement on February 29.
The recent reshuffle has led some security analysts and political experts to believe that negotiations between the two sides might be problematic due to Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai having been replaced by Sheikh Abdul Hakim – a religious cleric – as the group’s chief negotiator. With the inclusion of more indurated Taliban leaders as members of the group’s negotiating team, the dialogue was forecasted to experience more bumps on aspects like the nature, operation of the future administration in Kabul, government’s opposition to an Islamic emirate, as well as a comprehensive ceasefire.
Here’s a closer look at the Taliban delegation:
Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai: An ethnic Pashtun, Stanekzai, is the deputy head of the Taliban’s political office in Doha and is the deputy head of the group’s delegation for the intra-Afghan talks. He was born in eastern Afghan province Logar’s Baraki Barak district. He studied in the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in the 1970s, unlike most Taliban leaders who pursued religious studies in seminaries of Afghanistan or Pakistan. During the anti-Soviet jihad in the 1980s, he first fought under Mujahideen leader Mawlawi Mohammad Nabi’s Harakat-e-Inqilab-e-Islami, and then with Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf’s Ittihad-e-Islami. He was appointed as the deputy minister of foreign affairs and later as a deputy minister of public health in the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. In 2015, he succeeded Sayed Mohammad Tayeb Agha as the head of the Taliban’s office in Qatar. Stanekzai is reported to have had an instrumental role during the several rounds of the peace talks that commenced in 2018.
Mohammad Suhail Shaheen: He is a graduate of the English department at Kabul University and also has a degree in journalism. Shaheen is native to Paktia province and belongs to the Pashtun community. During the Taliban regime, he worked as the Editor-in-Chief of The Kabul Times newspaper. Shaheen also worked as the Taliban’s representative in New York and as a deputy to the Taliban’s ambassador in Pakistan in the same period. Shaheen was the spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Qatar until recently when he was replaced by Mohammad Naeem.
Mohammad Naeem: He continues to be a member of the Taliban’s political office since 2010 and was recently appointed as the group’s spokesman. Naeem pursued a bachelor’s degree in Islamic studies in Peshawar after which he got his master’s degree from the International Islamic University in Pakistan. He holds a Ph.D., and is also reported to have studied Hadith briefly in the famous Darul Ulum Haqqania seminary in Pakistan in 2006. Naeem has worked as a lecturer in the Islamic studies faculty in Peshawar between 2008 to 2011.
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Mullah Mohammad Anas Haqqani: One of the high-ranking members of the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani Network. He is the youngest son of Mawlawi Jalaluddin Haqqani – founder of the Haqqani Network – and the half-brother of Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is currently the Taliban’s second-in-command. In 2014, Hafiz was arrested in Bahrain and was imprisoned at the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan. He was released in November 2019 along with two other Haqqani Network militants as part of the prisoner exchange between the Taliban and the Afghan government.
Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa: Belonging to the Pashtun group’s Popalzai tribe, Khairkhwa is one of the founding members of the Taliban. He is alleged to have had direct links with al-Qaeda leaders and was the governor of Herat province in 2001. He was arrested in Pakistan in 2002 and was released in May 2014. In October 2018, the militant group had included him in its negotiating team.
Mawlawi Abdul Salam Hanafi: He is the current deputy leader of the Taliban’s political office in Qatar. Hanafi has also served as a deputy to Abbas Stanekzai during the latter’s tenure as chief negotiator of the Taliban in peace talks. Hanafi completed his religious education in Pakistan. In 2001, he was appointed as a parallel ‘shadow’ governor of Jowzjan province by the militant group.
Abdul Manan Hotak AKA Omari: He is the brother of the Taliban’s founder Mullah Mohammad Omar. He is from the southern province of Kandahar and belongs to the Hotak tribe – a group within the Pashtun community’s Ghelzai branch. After initially opposing Mullah Akhtar Mansur’s appointment as the new head of the Taliban following Omar’s death, Hotak declared allegiance to the new chief. Currently, Hotak serves as the head of the Taliban’s commission for complaints and civilian casualties.
Mawlawi Abdul Kabir: Born in Baghlan province, he is a well-known figure and tribal leader among the Taliban. He is currently serving as a member of the group’s leadership council. Kabir pursued his education in a seminary. During the Taliban rule, he served as the governor of Nangarhar province in the east.
Mawlawi Amir Khan Motaqi: He was born in Helmand province’s Nad-e Ali district and pursued religious training. Motaqi served as the minister of education (1995) and minister of information and culture (1999). He was the chief of staff to the Taliban’s current supreme leader Mullah Haybatullah Akhundzada.
Qari Din Mohammad Hanif: Born in Badakhshan province, he pursued religious studies in Pakistan. Hanif is a leading member of the Taliban’s political office in Doha, as well as a member of the group’s leadership council. He served as the minister of planning and minister of higher education during the Taliban rule. He also looks after the Taliban’s relations with Central Asia.
Abdullah Hanafi: He belongs to Kandahar province, and has studied Islam in different regions. He is also known as Mullah Shireen Akhund. Hanafi joined the Taliban movement during Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan and is currently a member of the group’s leadership council. Hanafi was assigned to provide security at the residence of Taliban founder Mullah Omar. He has also served as the Taliban’s commander in Herat and Kandahar provinces in 2001, and also ran different military commissions.
Mullah Abdul Latif Mansur: Mansur was a member of the Taliban’s negotiating team that held talks in 2019, and is also a part of the group’s leadership council. He was the minister of agriculture under the Taliban regime between 1996 and 2001. Mansur was also a senior Taliban commander in eastern Afghanistan. He is believed to have headed the Taliban’s Peshawar Council – a body of the Afghan Taliban leaders allegedly based in Pakistan.
Shahabuddin Delawar: He was a member of the Taliban delegation that met Afghan officials in Moscow in February 2019. Delawar is a member of the Taliban’s leadership council and worked as a diplomat in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia during the Taliban rule between 1996 and 2001. During the same period, he also served as the head of the religious board of the Supreme Court.
Mawlawi Mohammad Qasem: Born in Jowzjan province, Qasem worked for the Taliban in northern Afghanistan and is now a part of the leadership council. He became a member of the Taliban’s preaching and guidance commission and later became the commission’s head between 2007 and 2016.
Mawlawi Fariduddin Mahmood: A native to Paktika province, Mahmood studied in Darul-Olum Haqqania seminary in Pakistan. During the Taliban rule, he was appointed as the governor of Paktia, and later as the deputy head of the academy of sciences.
Mawlawi Matiul Haq: He is the son of Mawlawi Yunus Khales – a former member of Hezb-e Islami – as well as Taliban commander Anwarul Haq’s brother. His father had split from Hezb-e Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in the 1970s and formed Hezb-e Islami Khales.
Mohammad Nabi Omari: Born in Khost province, Omari pursued his education in a seminary in Pakistan. He is a senior political adviser in the Taliban. He joined the Taliban’s movement against the Soviet Union under the leadership of Mawlawi Jalaluddin Haqqani.
Mullah Mohammad Fazel: A native to central Afghan Uruzgan province, he served as the Taliban’s deputy defense minister and army chief in 2001. The Human Rights Watch has accused Fazel of directing thousands of Shia deaths in 2000. He was released with Khairkhwa in 2014.
Mullah Noorullah Noori: He was appointed as the head of the group’s operation in Afghanistan’s northern areas. Noori is reported to be one of the pioneers of the Taliban movement.
Mullah Abdul Haq Wasiq: Born in Ghazni province, Wasiq has played a significant role in the Taliban’s military wing.
Meanwhile, speaking to TheNews21 on the status quo of the Doha talks, Research Scholar from the National University of Singapore, Chayanika Saxena said that things have looked promising, with the Afghanistan Government and the Taliban engaging in negotiations under one roof.
“However, that said, the two sides are in the same room on a different footing. The Taliban is in this game (of talks) knowing that they have precious little to lose. On the other hand, President Ashraf Ghani-led administration is already the weaker of the two sides and has much to lose, including donor aid and public legitimacy,” Saxena observed.
She cited that the release of Taliban inmates as the biggest challenge that Afghanistan continues to face vis-a-vis the released prisoners is their mainstreaming into the existing political and security folds.
“History does not speak highly of the Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) efforts that have taken place in the country. Given the available reports in the media, the released prisoners have gone back to their old insurgent ways which may result in a further increase in violence in the days to come,” Saxena pointed.
With the talks and outcome of things expected to affect New Delhi and its prospects in Afghan lands, the geopolitical expert said that India’s ‘wait and watch’ position has been the doing of South Block as it remained quiet on the entire process all this while. “Several hints were given by both national and international actors to India to hitchhike on the talk’s bandwagon. However, New Delhi’s (rightful) moral reluctance to talk to the Taliban may have caused it some strategic setback, particularly now that the intra-Afghan talks have begun,” Saxena said while adding that the statement released by India during the commencement of the talks can be looked as a welcome step, particularly as it will allow New Delhi to be a part of the process instead of falling by the wayside.
