What I don’t know yet is what they got in return…. One assumes independent control of their little fiefdom and the drugs. Rather than Helmandis I would say networks as well.
Muttaqi is Helmandi from zargoun kalay in nad Ali. Gul agha is Helmandi, previously of mansour network, but now @bsarace is reporting he might be considered a Yacouby (I can’t say either way yet).
So maybe the question is what is happening with all the mansourees? Was the trade about drugs and independence?
And because those guys (and people like Zakir) were closer to Iran - and Iran does not like the talib administration - what does this mean for things like water rights in the SW? You could easily see Helmand, Nimruz and farah hiving off…
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
The Talib government is like watching history repeat itself; the deafening silence where recognition should be; Pakistan scraping the barrel trying to integrate the mullahs internationally.
I mean I know the Talibs had no choice but to have a line up like that if they wanted to not fracture their movement.
But a Talib-only government isn’t going to work for Afghanistan, nor for the region, nor for other international players.
Interesting that RT is reporting this. So Russia has fallen out of love with the Taliban. Do we link this to the reports of helicopters flying into Panjshir from Tajikistan the other day?
Is this part of the Russia - China strategic rivalry in Central Asia?
(Obv Russia was giving support to some TB factions because it wanted to give the US payback after the muj beat the commies, but I guess they expected a bit more support after. Ha. You can rent 'em, but you can't buy 'em.)
Hearing several reports that a large number (over a thousand) mostly Helmandi and some Kandahari Talibs are moving up to Kabul to assume the internal security of Kabul.
This tells us a few things.
Firstly, that the central Talibs trust most the southerners.
Interagi if reports from @NagiebK up in Mazar: all calm, and checkpoints manned by local guys from rural Balkh (Turkmen, Tajik, Uzbek etc.). A very few Kandaharis.
Clear that the Taliban have been excellent as using those local cleavages to recruit all over country.
Wonder what happens when/if the Southern Pushtun reassert control. Will they? What degree of autonomy will locals get in the new world?