How the Taliban's win in Afghanistan could reshape the jihadist movement
CBC
Had it been about someone else — anyone else, really — the public announcement this week that Taliban deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was not dead might have seemed comical.
Any reaction to the news along the lines of Mark Twain's famous description of a newspaper report about his death as "exaggerated" would have been hopelessly out of place, however.
That's because the persistent rumours of Baradar's supposed demise in a gunfight with rivals underscored the tenuous hold the hardline Islamist government has on both Afghanistan and the radical jihadist movement that now sees the Taliban as rock stars.
One month into the new regime, there is growing evidence that — despite the Taliban's stunning victory — there remain significant internal rivalries within the movement, while more radical international jihadist movements are looking to exploit the new government for their own ends.
The SecDev Group, a Canadian research and analytics firm that specializes in security threats, recently drafted a new report that warns the overthrow of the western-backed government in Kabul last month is making "waves on social media" throughout South Asia.
"It is not just official channels managed by known extremist groups that are openly celebrating the Taliban's victory but also a large number of moderate Muslims who are joining in the what some describe as Islam's win over the 'infidels'," said the analysis report, which points to Bangladesh as a new potential trouble spot.
"Bangladeshis that previously fought alongside al-Qaeda and the Taliban are frequently celebrated by official AQIS [al-Qaeda in the Indian Sub-continent] social media channels. Such posts started trending again after the Taliban's capture of Kabul in August."