Editing Taliban (section)

== Leadership and organization ==
{{Main|Government of Afghanistan|List of Taliban insurgency leaders}}
;Kandahar faction and Haqqani network
According to [[Jon Lee Anderson]] the Taliban government is "said to be profoundly divided" between the Kandahar faction and the [[Haqqani network]], with a mysterious dispearance of deputy Prime Minister [[Abdul Ghani Baradar]] for "several days" in mid-September 2021 explained by rumours of injury after a brawl with other Taliban.<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" />  The Kandahar faction is named for the city that Mullah Omar came from and where he founded the Taliban, and is described as "insular" and "rural", interested "primarily" with "ruling its home turf". It includes [[Haibatullah Akhundzada]], [[Mullah Yaqoob]], [[Abdul Ghani Baradar]] (see below).

The family-based [[Haqqani network]], by contrast are "closely linked to Pakistan's secret services", "interested in global jihad", with its founder (Jalaluddin Haqqani) "connected" the Taliban with [[Osama bin Laden]].<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" /> It is named for its founder [[Jalaluddin Haqqani]] and is currently led by [[Sirajuddin Haqqani]], and includes Khalil Haqqani, Mawlawi Mohammad Salim Saad.<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" />
With  Sirajuddin Haqqani as acting interior minister, as of February 2022, the network has control of "a preponderance of security positions in Afghanistan".<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" />

Taliban leadership have denied tension between factions. Suhail Shaheen states "there is ''one'' Taliban", and Zabihullah Mujahid (acting Deputy Minister of Information and Culture), even maintains "there is no Haqqani network."<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" />

=== Current leadership ===
The top members of the Taliban as an insurgency, as of August 2021, are:<ref>{{cite news |title=Who are the Taliban leaders now controlling Afghanistan? |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-20/who-are-leaders-taliban-afghanistan/100390308 |newspaper=ABC News |publisher=[[ABC News (Australia)]] |access-date=5 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210820061541/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-20/who-are-leaders-taliban-afghanistan/100390308 |archive-date=20 August 2021 |date=20 August 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>
*[[Haibatullah Akhundzada]], the Taliban's Supreme Leader since 2016, a religious scholar from Kandahar province.
*[[Abdul Ghani Baradar]], co-founder of the movement alongside Mullah Omar, was deputy Prime Minister as of March 2022.<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" />  From Uruzgan province, he was imprisoned in Pakistan before his release at the request of the United States.
*[[Mullah Yaqoob]], the son of the Taliban's founder Mullah Omar and leader of the group's military operations.
*[[Sirajuddin Haqqani]], leader of the  [[Haqqani network]] is acting interior minister as of February 2022, with authority over police and intelligence services. He oversees the group's financial and military assets between the [[Afghanistan-Pakistan border]]. The U.S. government has a $10 million bounty for his arrest brought on by several terrorist attacks on hotels and the Indian Embassy.<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" />
*[[Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai]], former head of the group's political office in Doha. From Logar province, he holds a university master's degree and trained as a cadet at the Indian Military Academy.
*[[Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai]], chief negotiatior of the group's political office in Doha, replacing Stanikzai in 2020. Heads the Taliban's powerful council of religious scholars.
*[[Suhail Shaheen]], Taliban nominee for Ambassador to the U.N.; former spokesperson of the Taliban's political office in Doha. University educated in Pakistan, he was editor of the English language ''[[Kabul Times]]'' in the 1990s and served as a deputy ambassador to Pakistan at the time.
*[[Zabihullah Mujahid]], the Taliban's spokesperson since 2007. He revealed himself to the public for the first time after the group's capture of Kabul in 2021.

All the top leadership of the Taliban are ethnic Pashtuns, more specifically those belonging of the [[Ghilzai]] confederation.<ref name="USMA">{{Cite web|url = https://www.ctc.usma.edu/tribal-dynamics-of-the-afghanistan-and-pakistan-insurgencies/|title = Tribal Dynamics of the Afghanistan and Pakistan Insurgencies|date = 15 August 2009|access-date = 21 October 2021|archive-date = 21 October 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211021132110/https://www.ctc.usma.edu/tribal-dynamics-of-the-afghanistan-and-pakistan-insurgencies/|url-status = dead}}</ref>

=== Overview ===

Until his death in 2013, Mullah Mullah Omar was the supreme commander of the Taliban. [[Akhtar Mansour|Mullah Akhtar Mansour]] was elected as his replacement in 2015,<ref name="Mansoor-elected">* {{cite news| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/144382.stm | title=Analysis: Who are the Taleban? | date=20 December 2000 | work=BBC News}}
* {{Cite web |title=From the article on the Taliban in Oxford Islamic Studies Online |url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e2325?_hi=34&_pos=4 |access-date=27 August 2010 |publisher=Oxford Islamic Studies}}
* [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33721074 Mullah Omar: Taliban choose deputy Mansour as successor], BBC News, 30 July 2015</ref> and following Mansour's killing in a May 2016 US drone strike, Mawlawi [[Hibatullah Akhundzada]] became the group's leader.<ref name="Akhundzada">{{Cite web |date=26 May 2015 |title=Afghan Taliban announce successor to Mullah Mansour |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36375975 |access-date=26 May 2016 |website=BBC News}}</ref>

The Taliban initially enjoyed goodwill from Afghans weary of the warlords' corruption, brutality, and incessant fighting.<ref>Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim world / editor in chief, Richard C. Martin, Macmillan Reference US : Thomson/Gale, 2004</ref>
This popularity was not universal, particularly among non-Pashtuns.

In 2001, the Taliban, ''[[de jure]]'', controlled 85% of Afghanistan. ''De facto'' the areas under its direct control were mainly Afghanistan's major cities and highways. Tribal [[Khan (title)|khans]] and warlords had ''de facto'' direct control over various small towns, villages, and rural areas.<ref>Griffiths 226.</ref>
[[File:Taliban-herat-2001 retouched.jpg|upright|thumb|left|Taliban police patrolling the streets of [[Herat]] in a pick-up truck]]

Rashid described the Taliban government as "a secret society run by [[Kandahar]]is ... mysterious, secretive, and dictatorial."<ref name="Rashid 2000 98" /> They did not hold elections, as their spokesman explained:

{{blockquote|The ''[[Sharia]]'' does not allow politics or political parties. That is why we give no salaries to officials or soldiers, just food, clothes, shoes, and weapons. We want to live a life like the Prophet lived 1400 years ago, and jihad is our right. We want to recreate the time of the Prophet, and we are only carrying out what the Afghan people have wanted for the past 14 years.<ref>{{Harvnb|Rashid|2000|p=43}} Interview with Mullah Wakil, March 1996</ref>}}

They modelled their decision-making process on the Pashtun tribal council (''[[jirga]]''), together with what they believed to be the early Islamic model. Discussion was followed by a building of a consensus by the "believers".<ref name="Rashid 2000 95" /> Before capturing Kabul, there was talk of stepping aside once a government of "good Muslims" took power, and law and order were restored.

As the Taliban's power grew, decisions were made by Mullah Omar without consulting the ''jirga'' and without consulting other parts of the country. He visited the capital, Kabul, only twice while in power. Instead of an election, their leader's legitimacy came from an oath of allegiance ("[[Bay'ah]]"), in imitation of the Prophet and the first four [[Caliph]]s. On 4 April 1996, Mullah Omar had "the [[Cloak of Muhammad|Cloak of the Prophet Mohammed]]" taken from its shrine for the first time in 60 years. Wrapping himself in the relic, he appeared on the roof of a building in the center of Kandahar while hundreds of Pashtun [[mullah]]s below shouted "[[Amir al-Mu'minin]]!" (Commander of the Faithful), in a pledge of support. Taliban spokesman Mullah Wakil explained:

{{blockquote|Decisions are based on the advice of the Amir-ul Momineen. For us consultation is not necessary. We believe that this is in line with the ''Sharia''. We abide by the Amir's view even if he alone takes this view. There will not be a head of state. Instead there will be an Amir al-Mu'minin. Mullah Omar will be the highest authority, and the government will not be able to implement any decision to which he does not agree. General elections are incompatible with ''Sharia'' and therefore we reject them.<ref name="ReferenceD" />}}

The Taliban were very reluctant to share power, and since their ranks were overwhelmingly Pashtun they ruled as overlords over the 60% of Afghans from other ethnic groups. In local government, such as Kabul city council<ref name="Rashid 2000 98">{{Harvnb|Rashid|2000|p=98}}.</ref> or Herat,<ref name="rashid 39-40">{{Harvnb|Rashid|2000|pp=39–40}}.</ref> Taliban loyalists, not locals, dominated, even when the Pashto-speaking Taliban could not communicate with the roughly half of the population who spoke Dari or other non-Pashtun tongues.<ref name="rashid 39-40" /> Critics complained that this "lack of local representation in urban administration made the Taliban appear as an occupying force."<ref name="rashid 101-102" />

=== Organization and governance ===
Consistent with the governance of the early Muslims was the absence of state institutions and the absence of "a methodology for command and control", both of which are standard today, even in non-Westernized states. The Taliban did not issue press releases or policy statements, nor did they hold regular press conferences. The basis for this structure was [[Grand Mufti]] [[Rashid Ahmed Ludhianvi]]'s ''Obedience to the Amir,'' as he served as a mentor to the Taliban's leadership.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Semple|first=Michael|date=2014|title=Rhetoric, Ideology, and Organizational Structure of the Taliban Movement|url=https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/187121/PW102-Rhetoric-Ideology-and-Organizational-Structure-of-the-Taliban-Movement.pdf|journal=[[United States Institute of Peace]]|pages=10–11}}</ref> The outside world and most Afghans did not even know what their leaders looked like, because photography was banned.<ref>{{Harvnb|Rashid|2000|p=5}}.</ref> The "regular army" resembled a lashkar or traditional tribal [[militia]] force with only 25,000 men (of whom 11,000 were non-Afghans).

Cabinet ministers and deputies were mullahs with a "[[madrasah]] education". Several of them, such as the Minister of Health and the Governor of the State bank, were primarily military commanders who left their administrative posts and fought whenever they were needed. Military reverses that trapped them behind enemy lines or led to their deaths increased the chaos in the national administration.<ref>{{Harvnb|Rashid|2000|p=100}}.</ref> At the national level, "all senior Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara bureaucrats" were replaced "with Pashtuns, whether qualified or not". Consequently, the ministries "by and large ceased to function".<ref name="rashid 101-102">{{Harvnb|Rashid|2000|pp=101–102}}.</ref>

The Ministry of Finance did not have a budget nor did it have a "qualified economist or banker". Mullah Omar collected and dispersed cash without bookkeeping.