Taliban’s challenge could include a jihadist threat

A critical measure of the Taliban’s ability to adapt to its new role of running a government will be the extent its leadership follows the emollient line expressed by spokesmen in Doha, that many analysts believe is represented by politburo head Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, rather than being guided by its many hardliners including the Haqqani brothers, whose network (created by their father) has for decades sponsored radical violence. Baradar and the Haqqanis are back in Kabul looking to shape the new Afghanistan.