Victorious, Taliban face fierce new tests of human catastrophe, faction war

Without foreign recognition, the Taliban would be hard-pressed to manage what the UN has called an "economic crisis" in Afghanistan and a looming "humanitarian catastrophe".

Having conquered Afghanistan, the Taliban now face the formidable task of keeping the peace within their own ranks and running a country on the brink of ruin, experts say.

To outsiders, the hardliners may appear homogenous and united on all ideological and strategic matters. But like any other large political organisation, the decades-old Islamist group has its divisions, rivalries, allegiances and factions.