It meant Mullah Omar was viewed by the Taliban and al-Qaida as the leader of Muslims, although he never declared himself caliph.
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“Of course he wanted the foreigners out of Afghanistan, but Mullah Mansoor consistently told Mullah Omar that war was not the solution in Afghanistan“, Mujda said.
“Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar is dead”.
The 2014 resignation of Mullah Abdul Qayum Zakir, former head of the Taliban’s military commission, a former Guantanamo Bay inmate and a major opponent of peace talks, also facilitated Mansoor’s ascendancy. This may put him in a position to revive the peace talks. Instead, he said, a small number of leaders had made the decision.
The succession dispute could sow further division among different factions within the Taliban, Zarate said, and potentially give a foothold to outside groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) that have been trying to make inroads in Taliban territory in recent months.
“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”, the foreign ministry statement said.
Residents of the area, speaking to Reuters by telephone, said bodies of security personnel and Taliban fighters were lying in the streets after the battle.
Family members on Friday denied reports of the death of Jalaluddin Haqqani, founder of the fearsome Haqqani militant network blamed for some of Afghanistan’s deadliest suicide attacks.
Pakistan has pushed Taliban leaders based in its territory hard to come to the negotiating table at the request of ally China and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
Analysts say the network has always been part of the Taliban and its members accepted Mullah Omar as their leader.
Chief of the Haqqani militant network and father of Sirajuddin Haqqani, Jaluluddin Haqqani, died nearly a year ago of natural causes and was buried in Afghan province of Khost, according to reliable sources among the Afghan Taliban. The Washington Post reported on July 30 that the CIA had supposedly approached Pakistan in 2011 and accused its Inter-Services Intelligence of sheltering Omar in Karachi.
The State Department had offered a -million reward for information leading to him, saying Omar represented “a continuing threat to America and her allies”.
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The Quetta Shura has sent a six-member team to Qatari capital Doha to meet with one of its leaders, Tayyab Agha, seeking his support for Mansour, according to another Taliban source close to the leadership.
