Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban’s interior minister, urged the group not to treat people in Afghanistan harshly and said that such a behaviour distances them from religion. Haqqani on Thursday also talked about Afghans’ dissatisfaction with the Taliban.
However, during the introduction ceremony of the new governor of the Taliban for Kandahar province, he emphasised on unity among the Taliban and stressed on “obedience” to the Taliban leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada.
The Taliban leader has appointed Mohammad Ali Hanafi, known as Mullah Shirin, as the governor of Kandahar. Mullah Shirin, who was previously the deputy defence minister for intelligence affairs of the Taliban, has close relations with Akhundzada.
Haqqani said that he had attended the introduction ceremony on the orders of the Taliban leader and asked the new Kandahar governor to serve the people of the province.
The Taliban’s interior affairs minister pointed out various issues facing the Taliban to an audience that was mainly Taliban officials and fighters, and according to him, several of them have been dissatisfied with the current situation among the group.
Haqqani also tried to paint a public-centered image of the Taliban and defended the shortcomings of the Taliban regime led by Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, whom he referred to as “Sheikh Sahib” during his speech.
Without referring to any specific cases, Haqqani indirectly asked the Taliban to stop behaving harshly with the people. According to him, the Taliban should not rush to implement the Sharia orders of their regime on the people in Afghanistan, because he thinks that people will build hatred towards religion.
Some observers believe that Haqqani has differences with the Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada on Taliban policies. Hassan Abbas, a professor at the National Defence University in Washington, has described Haqqani as a pragmatic leader of the Taliban.
In his newly published book on the Taliban, Abbas has spoken about the internal differences of the Taliban and said that some within the group believe that radical policies of Akhundzada will lead to more isolation of the Taliban.
Haqqani, without referring to the statements of observers such as Abbas, said that "the Taliban did not fight for position and power”.
He stressed that Mullah Hibatullah did not differentiate between the Taliban of different provinces and provided support to all Taliban members.
