Taliban Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani has once again urged the group’s leadership to prioritise winning public trust and improving security, in remarks that observers say reflect both internal unease and mounting public scepticism toward the Taliban’s rule.
In a meeting held on 10 September with senior officials from the Interior Ministry, Haqqani emphasized the need for greater efforts to ensure “individual and social security” across the country. According to an official statement, he stressed that building trust among Afghans is vital for the survival and legitimacy of the Taliban-led system.
Haqqani’s call for reform comes as the Taliban continues to face widespread criticism for its hardline policies, including ban on girls’ education, restricting female participation in public life, centralising power among an exclusive clerical elite, and sidelining ethnic and political minorities.
The Taliban has also been accused of extrajudicial reprisals and imposing strict laws through unchecked force, further alienating the population.
While Haqqani’s remarks may be framed as a push for reform, analysts view them as a veiled critique of the current leadership, particularly Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, whose isolationist approach and rigid decrees have drawn growing resentment, even from within the Taliban’s ranks.
This is not the first sign of friction between top Taliban leaders.
Previously, at the start of September, media reported on a major standoff between Haqqani and Akhundzada over a controversial austerity directive. Haqqani openly defied the order to slash 20% of government staff, leading to Interior Ministry employees going unpaid for two months. The episode highlighted how ministries are increasingly operating as personal power bases, rather than unified organs of state governance.
Taken together, these developments underscore two emerging realities: deepening rifts among Taliban leadership, and a growing admission, by their own top officials, that public trust remains dangerously low.
