Posted on 12/30/2007 6:04:38 PM PST by blam
Taliban in turmoil after argument over sacking
By Tom Coghlan in Kabul
Last Updated: 1:10am GMT 31/12/2007
The Taliban leadership are struggling to contain the fallout from an embarrassing public argument after a senior commander was sacked for disobeying orders but then refused to stand down.
Taliban spokesmen traded accusations in phone calls to news organisations after Mullah Omar, the spiritual leader of the Islamist organisation, publicly sacked Mansoor Dadullah, the new overall ground commander fighting British forces in southern Afghanistan.
Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman, said Dadullah was sacked for disobeying orders and conducting activities against the Taliban's rules and regulations.
He refused to elaborate on the exact nature of the charges.
But Dadullah said he was the victim of a conspiracy by his enemies. "It's not true that Mullah Omar kicked me out of the Taliban," he said.
"If he wanted me to leave the Taliban, then he would send me the message and I would put down my weapons because he is our top commander.
"If Mullah Omar wants me to disarm, there is no need to publish this in the media. In jihad, there is no personal interest. In jihad, you will be injured or killed only for the sake of Islam."
Dadullah took over after his notoriously brutal brother, Mullah Dadullah Akhund, was killed by troops from the Special Boat Service in May.
Mujahid said the Taliban leadership would release an audio tape of Mullah Omar formally sacking Dadullah to place the issue beyond doubt.
The episode has drawn fresh attention to the potential fault lines within the organisation after reports in The Daily Telegraph that British intelligence had been negotiating with Taliban-aligned local commanders in Helmand province.
MI6 believed divisions were close to producing a tribal revolt in the north of Helmand last month ahead of an operation to retake the key town of Musa Qala.
It is not the first time a rift has occurred between Dadullah's family and Mullah Omar. His brother was regarded within the Taliban as a loose cannon.
In the late 1990s, he was sacked by Mullah Omar at least three times for disobeying orders and conducting grotesquely excessive massacres of civilians and prisoners.
Dadullah's spokesman also appeared to suggest last night that his brother's death was the result of a conspiracy by other Taliban commanders and details would be passed to Mullah Omar.
This has all the elements of a Monty Python show.
BTTT
Can’t wait to see the Scrappleface version.
There’s a Monty Python skit in here somewhere.
So much for an original thought on my part. :-)
The mind just boggles....8-)
I interpret this as very good news, apart from the joking on this thread. The Brits must have made progress in isolating and siding with tribal leaders at odds with the Taliban.
Trouble in Talibanland!
Danny Kaye would have had a ball with these names.
“In the late 1990s, he was sacked by Mullah Omar at least three times “
I wonder how you get sacked three times?
Maybe the word ‘sacked’ doesn’t have the same meaning that it does in American culture.
I know that you know all the fun terms that come with SACK in America...but I think it means....
“You’re Fired”
Terrorists don't sack people,they slit their throats.
How grotesquely excessive can the Taliban masacre? After a bit, doesn't one reach the saturation point?
What are the levels of excess? Extremely grotesquely excessive, ultra grotesquely excessive etc?
And to think that we had him targeted on one of the first nights of the Afghanistan campaign and could have taken him out with the touch of a button, but for a farkin military LAWYER!
I hope that lawyer knows how much damage he's done and how many lives he's cost making that decision and I hope he rots in hell for it!
The sooner he's dead, the happier mankind shall be.
Mullah Omar, the spiritual leader of the Islamist organisation, publicly sacked TEABAG'D Mansoor Dadullah...
WORD!
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