<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;">When fighting erupted between Taliban and a breakaway group led by one of their former commanders in northern Afghanistan last month, Zahra and her family fled to the mountains.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>For days they walked across the rocky terrain, unsure what lay ahead or when they might return to their home in Sar-i-Pol province’s Balkhab district, where the clashes erupted.</div><div><br></div><div>“We didn’t want to get trapped... we all might have been killed,” said Zahra, 35, asking to use a pseudonym for security reasons.</div><div><br></div><div>Zahra’s family is among thousands that fled conflict between the Taliban and fighters loyal to Mahdi Mujahid, the group’s former intelligence chief for Bamiyan.</div><div><br></div><div>Ethnicity, religious sectarianism, and a battle for a lump of Balkhab’s lucrative coal resources are at the heart of the fighting.</div><div><br></div><div>“All these factors are working together in driving the conflict,” Australia-based political analyst Nematullah Bizhan said.</div><div><br></div><div>Mujahid, a Shia Hazara, joined the mostly Sunni and Pashtun Taliban in 2019, and was appointed to his post soon after the hardline group seized power in August last year.</div><div><br></div><div>Afghanistan’s Hazaras have faced persecution for decades, with the Taliban accused of abuses against the community when they first ruled from 1996 to 2001.</div><div><br></div><div>They are also the target of attacks by the militant Islamic State group, which considers them heretics.</div><div><br></div><div>Mujahid’s appointment was initially seen as supporting the Taliban’s claim of being more inclusive to non-Pashtuns, but he soon fell foul of the leadership.</div><div><br></div><div>The group routinely denies reports of infighting in its ranks, but last month media said Mujahid split with the Taliban leadership when Kabul sought greater control over the coal business.</div><div><br></div><div>History of resistance</div><div><br></div><div>Balkhab is home to several coal mines and demand has soared in recent months with Pakistan stepping up imports to fuel power plants.</div><div><br></div><div>Local Taliban commanders were known to “tax” trucks on their way to Pakistan -- as officials in the previous government did before them -- but when Mujahid resisted Kabul’s efforts to rein in the practice, they sacked him.</div><div><br></div><div>“Balkhab has a long history of resisting the government,” analyst Bizhan said, adding the region also fought strongly against the Taliban during their first reign.</div><div><br></div><div>While the June fighting lasted only a few days, the United Nations says it displaced at least 27,000 people -- almost all of them Hazara.</div><div><br></div><div>The result is a humanitarian crisis that aid agencies are now struggling to deal with.</div><div><br></div><div>“We used to sleep thirsty on empty stomachs and wake up in the morning and start walking again,” said Zahra, whose family walked for nearly a fortnight before finding shelter in a village mosque in Bamiyan.</div><div><br></div><div>“Everyone was sick.”</div><div><br></div><div>The family of Barat Ali Subhani, another resident of Balkhab, has taken refuge in the same mosque.</div><div><br></div><div>“We didn’t have anything with us. We just left in clothes we were wearing,” Subhani said.</div><div><br></div><div>His seven-member family walked for four days before a shepherd led them to the mosque.</div><div><br></div><div>“He saved us,” Subhani said.</div><div><br></div><div>“We had nothing. We thought that we will probably die.” - AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>