With the onset of inter-Afghan peace talks, it is important to evaluate whether the government of Pakistan has command and control over the Taliban Senior Leadership and whether the Local Taliban Militias true loyalties are devoted to regional Power Brokers who are engaged in political conflict with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. After 9/11, the new Taliban insurgency focused on recruiting local militias disenfranchised with the American supported Afghan government to engage in conducting insurgent operations. In order to promote their regional autonomy, Regional Power Brokers diversified their militia networks. These networks include client militias who associated themselves with the Taliban as well as client militias associated with ANDSF. These Regional Power Brokers utilize their patronage networks for intelligence gathering, alternative revenue generation, logistics redistribution, and to attack rival patronage networks kinetically.
