Afghan Taliban said on Saturday they have received an audio message of their chief Mullah Akhtar Mansoor and would release it soon in a bid to prove that he is safe and sound despite reports that he was injured or killed in a gunfight.
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A breakaway faction of the Taliban led by Mullah Mohamed Rasool was formed last month, in the first formal split in the movement.Mansour was declared Taliban leader on July 31 after the insurgents confirmed the death of Omar, who led the Islamist movement for some two decades.
“We even don’t know where he was taken but some of our people later told us he was admitted in a private hospital and that his condition was still critical”, said one senior Taliban member close to Mansour.
Another senior Taleban source said that the group is buying time to select a new leader and bring their organisation out of “this sudden shock”. “This is the enemy’s propaganda, and completely false”.
The comments from Richard Olson, newly appointed US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, follow an audio message from the Taliban rebutting widespread reports that Mansour had been seriously wounded in a shootout.
Channel 24, without identifying its sources, said Mansour succumbed to the injuries that he sustained on Wednesday in a gunfight following a harsh argument during a meeting of Afghan Taliban commanders near Pakistan’s south-western city of Quetta. “I haven’t seen Kuchlak in years”, said the voice. “It is part of the enemy propaganda war to create an impression that there are differences in the Taliban leadership and they have turned into a deadly infighting”, Mansour said in a 14-minute recorded message that Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid shared with VOA.
The man also offered his condolences to the relatives of civilians killed in the central Wardak province in a firefight between government forces and the Taliban on Friday – three days after Mansour was allegedly shot.
In his audio message, Mansoor also said that the Taliban “won’t agree to have peace talks if our demands are not met”. Scepticism over the Taliban denials has been fueled by the secrecy which surrounded the death of the movement’s founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar.
Violent clashes between the two rival Taliban groups erupted in southern Afghanistan early last month that left several dead from both sides confirmed the rift.
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Mansour is believed to be a proponent of talks with Afghan authorities, a deeply contentious issue that has prompted much rancour within hardline insurgent ranks.
