3 LEGGED MULE

According to Stratfor, Mullah Omar likely is in the Pashtun corridor of Balochistan province...

Osama Bin Laden  Ayman Al-Zawahiri likely are in the Dir/Malakand region. 

The Afghan Taliban movement has splintered into three groups: 

Taliban forces linked to Omar but based in Afghanistan and engaged in the fighting; 

Taliban elements allied with Pakistan...

Taliban fighters connected to Al Qaeda. 

The analysis predicts that ultimately there will be a negotiated settlement with a new leadership that will retain its ideology but within the confines of the Afghan nation-state and will abandon not just Al Qaeda but also its transnational objectives of a supranational caliphate. 

The Taliban leadership knows it paid a heavy price for its unwillingness to part ways with Al Qaeda. The Taliban leaders have also noted that Al Qaeda has lost appeal among the locals and realise that if they do not change, they could be sidelined by more pragmatic elements. 

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al Qaeda treating the Taliban like a three legged mule.

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