The Media Line: Taliban Arrests Senior Co-Founder Mutasim Agha Jan  

Taliban Arrests Senior Co-Founder Mutasim Agha Jan  

By Arshad Mehmood/The Media Line  

Taliban arrests senior co-founder Mullah Mutasim Agha Jan amid deepening internal rifts.  

In a significant development exposing internal fractures within the Taliban leadership, Afghan authorities have arrested Agha Jan, a co-founder of the movement and one of its most senior figures.  

An official from Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior confirmed the arrest to The Media Line, stating that Agha Jan was detained in Kandahar by a special intelligence unit responsible for the security of Supreme Leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada. The official said the operation was carried out on the orders of the supreme leader.  

Agha Jan, a close associate of the late Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar, served as finance minister in the group’s first government prior to the 9/11 attacks. He was also a key member of the influential Quetta Shura during the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.  

According to the Interior Ministry official, the arrest stems from Agha Jan’s efforts to establish a joint council of Islamic clerics from Afghanistan and Pakistan aimed at fostering lasting peace between the two countries, an initiative viewed as conflicting with the supreme leader’s policies. He had also been pressing senior Taliban officials to take decisive action against the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), whose leadership is believed to be operating from Afghan soil under Taliban protection.  

The source further stated that Agha Jan had been a vocal critic of the Taliban’s so-called “hostage diplomacy,” under which the group has allegedly detained foreign nationals, particularly Europeans and Americans, to extract political and financial concessions.  

The Taliban has not yet issued an official statement on the arrest, and his detention is being viewed by observers as a clear signal that the Taliban’s Kandahar-based leadership remains unwilling to take action against the TTP leadership.  

A former Afghan security official, Najib Mohmand, told The Media Line that “Agha Jan’s detention highlights growing policy divisions within Taliban factions, particularly the influential Kandahar circle’s reluctance to confront the TTP.”  

“This arrest indicates that the Kandahar group does not want to take action against TTP elements,” Mohmand said.  

He claimed that this group maintains close ties with al-Qaida leaders, who are reportedly residing in the red zone of Kandahar under the protection of the supreme leader’s special 313 Al Badri unit.  

The incident follows a similar case involving Abbas Stanikzai, a senior Taliban figure who reportedly fled the country to avoid arrest after opposing the supreme leader’s stance on girls’ education.  

Agha Jan’s detention highlights widening ideological and policy rifts within the Taliban movement as it struggles to balance internal cohesion, regional relations and governance challenges more than three years after returning to power. 

Caption: Mutasim Agha Jan. (Screenshot: YouTube)