MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/. Political forces in opposition to the Taliban (banned in Russia) are unable to lead large numbers of opponents to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in the current conditions, Grigory Lukyanov, a senior lecturer at the Political Sciences Department of the Higher School of Economics, said in an interview with TASS.

According to the expert, the Taliban remain the dominant military and political force that the opposition is unable to counter with a massive number of opponents at the current stage. "There are organizations that don’t share the Taliban’s vision for the future,’’ he said. "Seeing the Taliban as a threat to their interests, they put up resistance with the means that are available to them, particularly with terrorist acts.’’

Their ability to put up organized military resistance is extremely insignificant, while a takeover of any communities or entire provinces is impossible for the time being, according to the expert.

On the other hand, Lukyanov said, no opposition forces not only along the lines of terrorist groups, but also the organizations that associate themselves with the previous government of the so-called resistance front, which is related to the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, have made any new efforts to challenge the Taliban power. "They have no major opportunities to build up support inside and outside the country, no real alternative agenda or a program to oust the Taliban,’’ he said.

Even so, the expert doesn’t rule out the possibility of open strife inside the Taliban to begin in the future. This winter, "there may be a lack of resources at the local level to meet the demands of the local population and the battle units that make up the mainstay of the Taliban movement these days,’’ he said.

The Taliban unfolded a major offensive to take control of Afghanistan after the U.S. announced this past spring the decision to pull its troops from the country. On September 6, the Taliban declared control over the entire Afghan territory, and on September 7, they announced an interim government, which hasn’t yet been recognized by any other country.