New Taliban faction says it wants to start peace talks, believes women deserve rights

A new faction of the Taliban is striking a different, more reconciliatory tone, claiming it wants to start peace talks with the Afghan government and isn't opposed to women getting an education.

Abdul Manan Niazi, the deputy to the breakaway group's new leader, Mohammad Rasool, spoke with the BBC's Dari service Sunday, and said the splinter group has "realized this now, that under an Islamic system all rights of human beings — both men and women — need to be implemented 100 percent." Rasool, a former Taliban governor, was named the leader of the offshoot during a gathering of dissident Taliban fighters in Afghanistan's Farah province. The Washington Post reports that several of the members are believed to be influential Taliban members, and this is thought to be the first formal split in the group since the mid-1990s.

The Taliban's current head, Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor, took control after supreme leader Mohammad Omar died more than two years ago, and since then, many Taliban fighters have drifted away or joined the Islamic State. Without elaborating, Niazi said Sunday that Mansoor killed Omar, and the September takeover of the city of Kunduz by the Taliban was just for "Mansoor's personal power." He said his offshoot wants to see an end to suicide bombings, attacks on the military and civilians, and revenge seeking. "We announce to all Afghans that it is enough and to put aside Afghan fratricide," he said. "Let us find out who the source of the war in Afghanistan is, and where it comes from and how to prevent it." His group hasn't strayed from one core Taliban tenet: They do not want to engage in peace talks until every U.S. soldier leaves Afghanistan.

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