The Afghan Taliban’s newly appointed leader Mullah Haibatullah AKhundazada on Wednesday vowed there would be no return to peace talks with the government, in an audio recording provided by the group days after a U.S. drone killed his predecessor, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, in Pakistan.
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The Taliban’s appointment of Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada as its new leader has raised questions about the future of the insurgent group, both internally and in its relations with Kabul.
The US drone attack on Pakistan’s soil to kill Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Mansour is detrimental to bilateral ties, Pakistan army chief General Raheel Sharif said today.
Mansour was killed in a remote area of Pakistan’s Baluchistan province on Saturday when a vehicle in which he was traveling was targeted by a US drone.
“The Taliban understood that they needed a new consensus leader, and quickly, to prevent what was possibly the aim of the USA and Afghan governments – to create turmoil around the succession”. The insurgents have been fighting to overthrow the Kabul government since 2001.
“But (they) feared it could increase their hardships if Haqqani is made emir as he is the most wanted Taliban figure in the United States”.
Haibatullah, who has been described by those who know him as quiet and humble, is viewed as a centrist and may be able to woo back the breakaway factions that have roiled the insurgency since Omar’s death was made public a year ago.
For its part, the Afghan government has said Mansour was an obstacle to any sort of peace process, which ground to a halt when he refused to participate in talks earlier this year.
Haibatullah served as a senior judicial official during the Taliban rule, fleeing to Pakistan after the regime fell in 2001.
Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, Mullah Omar’s son, was named second deputy, Taliban spokesman told NBC News.
“We have no sense at this point where Akhundzada stands on negotiations”, Tom says.
Akhundzada, believed to be around 60 years of age and a member of the powerful Noorzai tribe, was a close aide to Omar and is from Kandahar, in the south of Afghanistan and the heartland of the Taliban.
“The new leader is neither a political figure nor a military figure but is known and respected for jurisprudence and legal decisions”. “Akhundzada was chosen to avoid further conflict and consultation”, said Islamabad-based analyst Amir Rana.
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It wasn’t until Omar’s death became public that the Taliban officially instated Mansur as the new leader, although it was rumored that he was secretly running the organization for the two years that Omar was deceased.
