After the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan some 25 years ago, Americans became accustomed to news of public executions, bans on everything from televisions to kite flying, and brutal repression of women.
Now, just days after they retook the country, it has come as a surprise to many in the United States to see Taliban leaders speaking at press conferences and being interviewed on live television by Western anchors.
The Taliban clearly see value in communicating openly with Western media outlets, but some experts worry that Americans may be getting a distorted sense of who the Taliban are from this more open approach. The real question, they say, is whether the group has really become more moderate, brooks shoes or if it has just learned to say what Western governments want to hear.
Husain Haqqani, former Pakistani ambassador to the U.S. and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, said American media coverage has largely overlooked the “most important figure” in the Taliban: Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhunzada.
Akhunzada is the supreme leader of the Taliban, or what one expert describes as the “amir-ul-momenin,” the “commander of the faithful.” The supreme leader “stands at the top,” and “under him is the Rahbari Shura (Leadership Council) of which he is not a member and that advises him,” wrote Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network.
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