“If he gets the credibility, it might not be such bad news to have Mansour replace the invisible Mullah Omar”, she said.
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Mansoor has been an “active director” of the jihad, or holy war, for some years, it added.
As the Taliban confirm the death of their leader Mullah Omar, an analyst says the group is likely to disintegrate into factions.
The veteran jihadi leader had long passed on the powers to his son Sirajuddin, also known as Khalifa, who is one of his 10 sons. The network has been blamed for numerous deadliest attacks against coalition forces and the Afghan government during the war. He said that clashes were still continuing in the neighbouring district of Musa Qala.
Moreover his longstanding ties to Pakistan, viewed by many Taliban as a capricious, unreliable ally motivated exclusively by self-interest, has led some to suspect him of being little more than an ISI puppet. Global community, including the US, China, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation members and the United Nations have also praised Pakistan’s efforts in convening the talks. However, the myth that surrounds Mullah Omar is a key element in determining whether peace talks can succeed. To a query about the presence of Daish/ISIL, he said that there is no footprint of the militant outfit in the country.
Only a handful of high-ranking Taliban had any access to their leader, and by the middle of 2013 that number had been winnowed to one: “Mullah Akhtar Mansour, effectively the No 2 in the insurgency”, a report in the New York Times said.
The U.S. government has offered a $5-million reward for information leading to Haqqani’s capture, blaming his group for a series of attacks on U.S. forces in Afghanistan. He allied himself to the Taliban after they took power in Kabul in 1996, serving as a cabinet minister. “Omar’s death has put the whole leadership and organizational structure of the group at stake”, said Wolf.
Meanwhile, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Ideological, a pro-Taliban political party, on Friday held a condolence reference and a public meeting to mourn the demise of Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar in Quetta. “That means that Mullah Mansour may have spent most of the past two years deceiving his fellow insurgents by claiming to pass on orders and messages from Mullah Omar“, it cited officials as saying.
“Mullah Mansour is… a moderate, pro-peace, pro-talks person”, said Abdul Hakim Mujahid, a former Taliban official and a member of the Afghan High Peace Council.
“Actually, it wasn’t a Taleban Leadership Council meeting”. The two sides met for inaugural negotiations earlier this month in Pakistan. But experts have long spoken of a divide in the movement between those who favor the peace process and those who still believe they can overthrow the government.
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On Thursday, the group confirmed the passing of Omar, the one-eyed, reclusive leader who had been at the helm since founding the organization in the 1990s. “We encourage the Taliban to heed President (Ashraf) Ghani’s call for reconciliation and make genuine peace with the Afghan government“.
