The Taliban-appointed mayor of Faizabad in northeastern Afghanistan was on August 13 assassinated by the National Resistance Front (NRF), according to the insurgent group.

Habiburrahman Mansur was killed in a targeted operation aimed at a vehicle carrying the mayor around 100 metres from the governor's office in Faizabad, capital of Badakhshan Province, according to a statement posted on X by the group, considered the successor to the historic anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.

Writing for IntelliNews in late July, Central Asia expert Bruce Pannier described how recent attacks showed Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban – who returned to power almost exactly five years ago – are facing a challenge from at least four different armed groups in Badakhshan Province.

“Violence has been slowly increasing in Badakhshan due mainly to [disagreements over] opium poppy-cultivation and gold-mining in the province. The introduction of armed resistance fighters could spark widespread violence in an area wedged between Tajikistan and Pakistan, with a short eastern border with China,” wrote Pannier.

The NRF is led by Ahmad Masoud, son of legendary Mujaheddin commander during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and later prominent military and political figure Ahmad Shah Masoud, known as the “Lion of Panjshir” and assassinated by Al-Qaeda operatives two days before the 9/11 attacks in the US. Since the arrival of independence in 1991, Tajikistan’s government has supported both the Masouds and their mainly ethnic Tajik forces. After the Taliban returned to power, Tajik authorities allowed the NRF to open a representative office in the Tajik capital Dushanbe. Some reports describe the NRF as politically based in the city.

Bodyguards of mayor Mansur may also have been killed in the NRF operation, according to a report from Radio Ozodi. The media outlet also cited reports that said heavy fighting between Taliban government forces and fighters of local Taliban dissident commander Juma Khan Fateh had been ongoing in the three days to August 13 in Nusay-i-Darwaz district, bordering Tajikistan, in Badakhshan Province.

Clashes in the province in July included armed fighters from a group called the Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) attacking several Taliban positions. Reports said the AFF is led by former Afghan National Army Chief of Staff General Yasin Zia, and that his fighters are former military and security personnel. Zia said his forces captured three Taliban bases. Pannier wrote that it would not be surprising if Pakistan were aiding the AFF.

Eyewitnesses to the attack on the mayor were reported by Afghanistan International as saying that the Taliban official’s vehicle caught fire in an explosion and was destroyed.

Mansur is reportedly the second senior Taliban official in Badakhshan killed in a targeted operation in the past two weeks. On July 28, Zabihullah Amiri, the Taliban’s information and culture director in Badakhshan, was assassinated by two men on a motorcycle on the Baharak-Faizabad road, according to Taliban police.

Speaking to Iran Afghanistan News Agency (IRAF) in an interview conducted before the killing of the mayor, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the opposition groups in Afghanistan were divided and pursuing different goals. He rejected a political settlement with them, saying their return to power could take Afghanistan back to past conditions.

Mujahid also claimed developments in Badakhshan were linked to foreign intelligence services, but he did not name any particular country.