In what should have been a routine transfer of authority, the Taliban regime has once again exposed the limits of its power. Abdul Rahman Ammar, former head of the Taliban’s mining operations in Badakhshan, openly defies orders from the supreme leader, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, forcing the regime to rely on brutal violence to enforce even standard administrative changes.
Ammar, entrenched with his forces in the mountains of Shahr-e-Buzurg district, continues to command well-armed fighters and enjoys local support. Efforts by Taliban chief of staff Fasihuddin Fitrat to resolve the dispute through negotiation have failed, underscoring the regime’s inability to impose its will without shedding blood.
The clashes over control of gold mines have already claimed over a dozen lives, including four Chinese nationals, proving that for the Taliban, violence is the only reliable tool, even for routine matters like appointments. Yet, despite the bloodshed, the regime has so far failed to capture Ammar or reassert full control, indicating that more violence is inevitable.
The situation highlights a grim reality: within the Taliban, even ordinary administrative decisions demand lethal enforcement, reflecting both the fragility of their authority and the pervasive reliance on bloodshed as a governance mechanism.
