KABUL – In the days since taking power in Afghanistan, a wide range of Taliban figures have entered Kabul — hardened commandos, armed madrassa students and greying leaders back from years of exile.
There has been one major exception — the group’s supreme leader.
Hibatullah Akhundzada — the so-called commander of the faithful — has shepherded the Taliban as its chief since 2016 when snatched from relative obscurity to oversee a movement in crisis.
After taking the insurgency’s reins, the cleric was tasked with the mammoth challenge of unifying a jihadist movement that briefly fractured during a bitter power struggle.
The infighting came as the group was hit with successive blows –…
