Splintered Taliban offer Afghanistan, West hope

The withdrawal of all U.S. combat troops from Afghanistan last December means the United States no longer is formally waging war against the Islamic extremist Taliban movement in Afghanistan. But with a troubling Taliban leadership shuffle and a disturbing upsurge in Taliban-sponsored attacks, the U.S. and its coalition partners can ill afford to sit idly by as that co-conspirator in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America gains ground.

Shortly after those attacks on our homeland, the U.S. launched full-scale warfare against al-Qaida and its Taliban ally in Afghanistan and, within months, deposed the governing Taliban regime. Since then instability has reigned in the region as the Taliban organization has refused to cease its bloodthirsty and relentless quest for building a nation ensconced in primitive, anti-democratic and sexist Shariah law.

Against that backdrop comes news earlier this month that the long-time leader of the Taliban and close ally of Osama bin Laden, Mullah Mohammad Omar, had died. In fact, the Afghan government announced that the reclusive mullah has been dead since April 2013, but the Taliban have remained tight-lipped on exactly when and how he died.

Sadly, Omar’s newly elected replacement, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, offers little hope for structural and peaceful change. Western leaders seeking continuation of peace talks toward long-term stability and democracy in the region seem to have little reason for optimism. Mansoor’s own words illustrate as much:

“We should not concentrate on peace talks or anything related to that. We should focus on implementing the Islamic system. The blood of our ‘Mujahideens’ [fighters] should not go to waste. We should fight united until we win.”

And clearly, Mansoor’s Mujahideens are listening.

Just last weekend, at least 29 people were killed and 19 others were wounded in a suicide bombing targeting a militia in the northern province of Kunduz, Afghan officials said. That deadly attack came just one day after a wave of Taliban-sponsored bombings rocked the Afghan capital, killing at least 65 people and wounding hundreds of others. Collectively, the attacks illustrate the resilience of the radical Islamic extremists.

DIVIDED THEY CAN FALL

Yet despite such a gloomy landscape, a glimmer of hope rises on the horizon. For one, cracks in a united Taliban front are showing as reports circulate of splits and internal dissension within the group.

According to NBC News, the splintering groups consist of those loyal to the original Taliban, others fighting under the banner of the Islamic State and still others who want to stop the insurgency and join the peace process.

Such splintering provides the legitimate Afghan government and its Western allies an opportunity to exploit the universal truism of “united they stand, divided they fall.” From a U.S. perspective, the division should not catalyze a renewed commitment to boots on the ground in the war-torn nation. But it should encourage President Barack Obama to forcefully continue our commitment to support the Afghan government army with trainers and logistical support up to and including a hit on Mansoor if he continues his militant ways. Such support should not cease as long as the Taliban remain a physical threat to the security, safety and stability of Afghanistan and the West.

Totally abandoning the fight against Taliban extremists would serve as a grim and sorrowful legacy to the legitimate Afghan government the U.S. helped to create and, more importantly, to the 3,000 Americans who lost their lives on that fateful September day 14 years ago.