In power, the Taliban’s divisions are coming to the fore

AFGHANISTAN’S PRESIDENTIAL palace has seen its fair share of bad-tempered quarrels between politicians. In recent years the castle-like building in the centre of Kabul was the site of bitter spats between the irascible former president, Ashraf Ghani, and his rival, Abdullah Abdullah. Mr Ghani is said to have taken anger-management classes. At one point he and Dr Abdullah held rival inauguration ceremonies as they disagreed over who should rule. Yet even by those fractious standards, the Taliban’s recent bust-up seems to have been heated.

The trouble kicked off in mid-September, just days after the Taliban announced the make-up of their interim government. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, one of the group’s founders and now a deputy prime minister, is said to have been dismayed that the cabinet was stuffed with conservatives from the old guard and military hardliners from the Haqqani network, a leading faction in the Taliban’s tapestry of allegiances. Khalil Haqqani, minister for refugees and a senior member of the Haqqani clan, countered that it was those very military hardliners who had delivered victory and should therefore be rewarded. Most accounts concur that the disagreement descended into angry words. Some suggest it went further: coming to scuffles, punches and even gunfire as the leaders’ retinues brawled. Mr Baradar, who is seen as one of the movement’s moderates, relatively speaking, lay low in Kandahar for a few days, leading to speculation that he had been wounded.