Taliban goes to war with itself as 'moderates' feud with terrorist faction

The Taliban has descended into bitter in-fighting with so-called 'moderates' thought to be at war with terrorist hardliners as both vie for power in the vacuum left by America's retreat from Afghanistan.Mullah Baradar, a member of the Taliban old-guard who led negotiations with the Americans in Qatar, is thought to have been involved in a fight with Khalil Haqqani, a leader in the terrorist Haqqani Network and one of the FBI's most-wanted, in Kabul's presidential palace as the pair argued over who had done more to drive US forces out.Haqqani - who is the country's new refugee minister - appears to have emerged the victor, with Baradar - the new deputy prime minister - now in hiding, with the Taliban forced to deny rumours that he was shot dead in the fight.Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban's supreme leader, a close ally of Baradar, and Emir of the new government, is also missing - with the Islamists insisting the pair are in Kandahar, though without providing convincing evidence.The fighting is threatening to split the Taliban's fledgling government between Baradar, Akhundzada and their allies - including the likes of Abdul Salam Hanafi and Mohammad Yaqoob - on one side, and the fearsome Haqqanis - including Khalil and his nephews Sirajuddin and Anas - on the other.Up for grabs is a pot of $1.2billion in foreign aid which the UN has pledged to Afghanistan - $64million of it from the US - as well as a share of power in the new administration.But the conflicts are also threatening to derail the fragile government even as the country's economy teeters on the brink of economic collapse with millions facing starvation and many of the Taliban's assets held or frozen by the West.Should the new administration collapse completely it could even plunge the country into civil war - creating a haven for terror groups to operate in.Afghanistan's power-players: Who's who now the US has withdrawn?  Formed during the Afghan civil war of the 1990s, the Taliban are a religious, political and military group made up of ethnic Pashtuns whose aim is to establish an Islamic nation that adheres to their strict interpretation of Sharia law.Originally trained by the CIA to fight the Soviets, the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 1996 when they seized the capital Kabul.They were then ousted in 2001 in the US invasion in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks.After two decades of guerilla warfare against the US, the Taliban rapidly recaptured Afghanistan as US forces withdrew this year and now control more territory than at the start of the conflict.Dating back to the 1970s, the Haqqani Network was founded by Jalaluddin Haqqani in order to fight the Soviets and received extensive training from the CIA.The group continued to be a major force within Afghanistan after the Soviets departed, pledging allegiance to the Taliban in 1995 and forming part of their first government.After the Taliban were deposed by the US, the Haqqani Network turned to terror attacks - leveraging connections with Al Qaeda and ISIS to carry out some of the biggest, deadliest and most-sophisticated attacks during the US war.The US designated the Haqqani Network a terror group in 2012 and placed two of its senior leaders - Sirajuddin and Khalil Haqqai - on the FBI's most-wanted list.Sirajuddin has led the group since his father's death in 2018, and is now Afghanistan's interior minister  Another child of the Soviet-Afghan war, the terror group was founded in 1988 by Osama bin Laden with the aim of ending all western influence in Muslim countries and establishing Islamic states based on strict Sharia law.Jihadists trained and equipped by Al Qaeda have been responsible for some of the biggest and deadliest terror attacks of the last two decades, including the September 11 attacks.Al Qaeda's presence in Afghanistan and close ties to the Taliban led to the US invasion in 2001, prompting Bin Laden to flee into northern Pakistan - where he was killed by American special forces in 2011.Senior Al Qaeda figures have been seen heading back into Afghanistan following the Taliban's take-over of the country, but its overall presence there is largely unknown and so-far it appears to have no role within the government.The most-extreme of all terror groups operating in Afghanistan, ISIS-K was established in 2015 as a splinter group of ISIS while it was at the height of its powers in Iraq and Syria.ISIS-K has been blamed for some of the worst atrocities in Afghanistan in recent years, including attacks on schools, hospitals and a maternity ward - during which pregnant women and newborn babies were killed.Ideologically opposed to Al Qaeda,.