The Taliban’s Acting Defense Minister and Interior Minister visited the 203 Mansuri Corps in Paktia province in eastern Afghanistan on separate occasions, as per the group’s affiliated media organisation, Bakhtar news agency.
No more details about the dates, purpose of the trips and the orders given by the two leaders have been provided. However, Zabihullah Mujahid, Taliban’s spokesperson, published a picture on twitter of Mullah Yaqoob and Sirajuddin Haqqani, the sons of the Taliban and Haqqani network founders together and tried to quell the rumours about tensions between the senior members of the group.
The visit of these two senior Taliban and Haqqani network officials has stirred the pot in news circles as the Mansuri corps is infamously known as the group’s suicide squad. These forces are present in Badakhshan, Kunduz, Samangan, Baghlan, Balkh, Parwan, and in other provinces of Afghanistan.
Mujahid had said that “Mujahideen”, who are members of the suicide attacker group, are part of this group’s army and they will be organized within the structure of the Ministry of defense.
The Taliban ministers trip comes as heavy clashes continue in different parts of Afghanistan with the National Resistance Front (NRF) and other anti-Taliban forces.
The Taliban’s spokesperson tweeted, which seemed to be addressing the opposition, that Mullah Yaqoob and Sirajuddin Haqqani fulfilled all the requirements of Jihad, don’t underestimate their achievements.
Also, Haqqani, during his visit to Paktia said that all the security and defense forces of Taliban should ensure goodwill, sincerity, and obedience as their basic principles and avoid any kind of negligence.