So far, neither the Taliban nor Pakistani officials have confirmed Afghanistan’s declaration on Wednesday that Mullah Omar died two years ago in a hospital in the Pakistani city of Karachi.
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Although it is not yet clear if the Taliban is now completely pulling out of the negotiations, the latest statement would definitely cast doubts over the credibility of the ongoing peace efforts in the region.
The Afghan government has not presented any evidence to back up its claim that the Taliban leader is dead and Kabul did not have an immediate comment on the Taliban statement.
The insurgents have not officially confirmed the death of the supreme leader of the Taliban, who has not been seen publicly since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban government in Kabul.
“The authorities of Afghanistan believes that grounds for the Afghan peace…”
The spokesperson said the US intelligence community is looking at the reports and “continues to assess the circumstances around his death”.
The Afghan government, elected last year, has embarked on a peace process with the Taliban.
Afghan officials are set to meet Taliban militants later this week for a second round – expected to take place in Pakistan – with the government pledging to press for a ceasefire.
Mansour was born and raised in the poppy-rich river valley of Band-e-Timor, the very same area of central Kandahar province where Omar first mobilised what was to become the Taliban and from which a disproportionate number of the Taliban’s leadership has traditionally hailed.
News of Omar’s demise is likely to intensify a struggle within the deeply divided group to succeed him, clouding chances of a peace process that had already run into trouble.
Seeking an end to the 14-year insurgency by Taliban force is a major priority for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
He had been Omar’s deputy for the past three years. There, he began to attract a band of religious students-“Taliban” means students in Pashto-and former mujahideen to fight the warlords holding sway over much of Afghanistan.
A different official with the agency, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Omar had been “suffering from a disease” at the time of his death. “We still have a lot of questions how Mullah Omar died”, he told BBC’s Pashto service, according to Reuters. Recently, the Taliban had put up a bio-data of Mullah Omar and had listed his likes and dislikes. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said it had no information about the announcement.
They were also scheduled to participate in the talks on Friday, Pakistani officials said.
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“Pakistan and other friendly countries of Afghanistan hope that the Taliban leadership will stay engaged in the process of peace talks in order to promote a lasting peace in Afghanistan”, Qazi Khalilullah said. I don’t know if Mullah Omar was even aware of all of those things that were happening there.
