SNAPSHOTS

A Drone Strike Highlights the Afghan Taliban’s Challenge of Maintaining Pakistani Relations

Dec 17, 2021 | 20:30 GMT

Taliban members stand near the birth house of the group’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhunzada, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Nov. 7, 2021.

Taliban members stand near the birth house of the group’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhunzada, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Nov. 7, 2021.

(JAVED TANVEER/AFP via Getty Images)

Reports of a failed drone strike against a leader of the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan highlight the complex challenge of Afghan-Pakistani relations following the Taliban takeover. Maulvi Faqir Mohammad survived an apparent attack against a compound where he was staying on Dec. 16. Conflicting reports say either a drone fired a missile at the compound in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province, on the border with Pakistan, or that a ground-based munition, likely a mortar, struck the compound. Mohammad was reportedly uninjured in the attack, amid reports from the TTP that said the missile failed to detonate. The attack came shortly after the TTP ended a month-long cease-fire with Pakistan, blaming Islamabad for failing to uphold its side of the arrangement....

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