The Islamic State extremist group has recently been employing cash as a primary incentive to steal foot soldiers away from the Taliban movement in certain areas of Afghanistan, US Forces Afghanistan Commander General John Campbell said during a panel discussion.
“(The Taliban) are now competing against IS in parts of Afghanistan … where they are paying more money to take people away from them,” Campbell said at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, Sputnik reported.
Campbell explained that the resource drain combined with lack of leadership, supplies and funding have contributed to the Taliban weakening and fracturing on the battlefield.
The US general said the death of Taliban’s leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has undermined the morale of the insurgents who considered him to be the “spiritual head” of the movement.
“The Taliban are tired from fighting for 14 years and want to get on with their lives,” Campbell claimed, so they might be ready and willing to engage in peace talks with the Afghan government.
On Monday, Tayyab Agha, the Taliban’s political office chief based in Qatar, resigned after a dispute over who would succeed Mullah Omar as the Taliban movement’s leader.
Taliban confirmed Mullah Omar’s death in 2013 last week. His civil aviation minister and cofounder of the Taliban, Mullah Mansour, was subsequently appointed to succeed Omar.
