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Afghanistan

Taliban Leadership in Disorder in Wake of Coronavirus

2020-06-02

Score for the Afghan government for releasing them from prison.

[NewsMax] Coronavirus has crippled the Afghan Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
, sending the organization into flux as members of its big shotship have sought treatment for the condition, according to Foreign Policy.

The illnesses have paved a way for Mullah Mohammad Omar, son of the group's founder, to grab the reins as interim leader, Taliban sources have reported.

The absence of senior Taliban leaders removes key decision-makers from the group during a period when U.S. troops are planning to draw down troops from Afghanistan to honor a bilateral agreement.

Haibatullah Akhundzada
...Former deputy to Taliban supremo Mullah Akhtar Mansour, now The Big Man Himself...
, the Taliban's supreme leader, hasn't attended meetings for several weeks. Sirajuddin Haqqani

...son of Pashtun warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, still titular head of the Haqqani Network....
, his chief deputy of the Haqqani network
...a branch of the Afghan Taliban, based in Pakistain. The network is a family business founded by the later Jalaluddin Haqqani...
, which is affiliated with al-Qaeda, has substituted in his absence.

But Haqqani has been stricken by coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)

coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)

...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
, which has caused him to miss out on leadership duties.

"When Sirajuddin got sick he probably infected everyone else as he was deputizing at meetings for Haibatullah," Antonio Giustozzi, an expert on the Taliban at the Royal United Services Institute in London, told Foreign Policy.

...and no hydroxycholoroquine to be found anywhere... Bummer.

An anonymous Kabul intelligence official confirmed some Taliban leaders had contracted coronavirus, including the supreme leader Akhundzada. Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob has now taken the role of "chief of operations."

"Our hero, the son of our great leader, Mullah Yaqoob, is running the entire Taliban operation in Haibatullah’s absence," Maulama Muhammad Ali Jan Ahmad, a senior Taliban commander, told Foreign Policy.

Discord within the top ranks of the Taliban could lead to a violent clash between its rival factions. That infighting could ultimately break off talks between the Taliban and the Kabul government to end their nearly 20-year conflict.

"There are two possible outcomes — Mullah Yaqoob will own his position at the top and Ishakzai will accept him as leader, or Ishakzai will gather his forces and attempt to maintain control in his own hands, and if that happens then things will be very bloody," an unnamed Quetta source said.

Posted by:trailing wife

#5 Mean girl!

Posted by: Skidmark 2020-06-02 22:44

#4 For goodness sake, Glenmore, don’t tell them that! Or tell them it’ll make their peepees shrivel up and fall off, or turn them into Jews.

Posted by: trailing wife 2020-06-02 22:40

#3 and no hydroxycholoroquine to be found anywhere...
Actually, pretty readily available wherever malaria is endemic, and there are plenty of Islamic countries that meet the requirement.

Posted by: Glenmore 2020-06-02 16:28

#2 "Al Dab, Al Dab, my goat is dead !"

Posted by: Thaith Elmeresing6163 2020-06-02 10:46

#1 That's what happen to people who bet on herd immunity.

Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-06-02 03:38

00:00