News Analysis: Rift in Taliban ranks to complicate Afghan peace process

A division in the rank of Taliban fighters has finally surfaced as a splinter faction challenging new leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor as being illegitimate to substitute Mullah Mohammad Omar, has picked up Omar's close aide Mullah Mohammad Rasoul as its supreme commander of faithful Muslims, or new leader.

The development took place amid government efforts to negotiate with the Taliban militants, according to the hardliner outfit, and to the political mainstream and thus bring an end to the protracted war in the country.

The splinter group choosing a new leader, which is close to the family of the then leader of the hardliner outfit, Mullah Mohammad Omar, according to Afghan political watchers, would complicate the Afghan government-backed peace process.

Militants opposing Akhtar Mansoor's leadership such as Amirul Mominin, reportedly chose Mullah Mohammad Rasoul as their leader in a public gathering held somewhere in the western Farah province last week.

According to media reports, Mullah Omar's brother Mullah Manan Niazi has been appointed as spokesman and Mullah Mansoor Dadullah as deputy to the newly-formed splinter group of the Taliban.

Report of the choosing of a new leader for dissident group, if confirmed by Akhtar Mansoor's faction, could deal a major blow to the Taliban militants and eventually weaken the militants and damage the peace process in Afghanistan, local political observers believe.

"Fragmentation in Taliban ranks makes it difficult for the government to know precisely who they should approach for peace talks," political analyst Mohammad Reza Hweda told Xinhua.

The peace process initiated by the Afghan government in 2010 has yet to be delivered, although the government has frequently offered peace talks.

However, the first-ever face-to-face talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government delegation were held in Pakistan in early July, but the process was halted following the confirmation of the death of Mullah Omar in late July and as cracks appeared in the ranks of the armed insurgent group.

"Practical division of the Taliban faction into two groups has further complicated the already complex Afghan peace process," Hweda, who is also the editor-in-chief of the Daily Afghanistan newspaper observed.

It is difficult for the government to decide with whom to negotiate.

Qari Hamza, the purported spokesman of Fidai Mahaz (Sacrificial Front), another splinter group of the Taliban, has reportedly supported Mullah Mohammad Rasoul against Mullah Akhtar Mansoor but has yet to join the newly-formed faction.

Backing the analyst, Mohammad Ismael Qasimyar, advisor on international affairs with the government-backed peace body, the High Peace Council, in talks with the media recently, confirmed that fragmentation in Taliban ranks would undermine the peace process and eventually make it difficult for the government to make decisions as to who to talk to.

"It is difficult for the government to decide whether to talk with the Mullah Akhtar faction, with the Mullah Rasoul group, Fidae Mahaz, Lashkar-e-Tayeba, or Hizb-e-Islami, among others. If they hold dialogue with one, the other would push for war," well-respected analyst and former diplomat Ahmad Sayedi maintained. Enditem