The expert added that if Mullah Omer is confirmed dead most probably his son will take over.
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As the fog settles around the recent reports, it’s worth mulling over what Omar’s death would mean for Afghanistan’s broader security situation and the ongoing peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, which appear to recently have gained some steam with the involvement of China and Pakistan.
The confirmation of Omar’s death comes amid ramped-up efforts by new Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to engage the Taliban in political peace talks.
An Afghan official said on Wednesday the reports were true and Omar died in a hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, in April 2013. According to some reports, Omar was buried in Afghanistan.
Mullah Omar rose to prominence by fighting against Soviet forces in Afghanistan and helped unify multiple competing warlords to lead the Taliban – which means “students” in Pashto – following their defeat.
The 5,000-word biography covers everything from Omar’s birthplace (the village of Chah-i-Himmat, in Afghanistan’s Khakrez district), to his rise within Taliban ranks and a “special” sense of humor. The Taliban could not be immediately reached for comment on the government’s claims about Omar, who has been declared dead many times before.
“We are aware of the reports of the passing away of Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader“, Hashemi said.
And earlier this month in a message released in Omar’s name, the leader was quoted as hailing the peace process as “legitimate”.
Also, it is not the first time that rumors about Mulla Omer’s death have made headlines worldwide.
A member of the Quetta Shura, the Taliban’s governing council, voiced doubt over whether that message – released just before the Muslim festival of Eid-ul-Fitr – was from Mullah Omar himself.
The strategy has spread Afghan military resources very thin as U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces ended their combat mission in the country at the end of previous year.
“He was sick. But we do not know for sure whether he died due to his illness, or due to some other reasons”.
One of Omar’s most defining characteristics is his missing eye.
The Taliban is now in peace talks with the Afghan government, hoping to end the war that began with the U.S. invasion in 2001.
The fear for politicians in Afghanistan is that now the threat from the Taliban seems to be drawing to a close, new alliances with ISIL could lead to further violence and turmoil in a seemingly lawless country which always seems simmering on the edge of civil war.
The lack of evidence that Mullah Omar was alive has been a big factor in the defection of several senior Taliban commanders to the group known as Islamic State (IS).
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Some disgruntled Taliban commanders have defected to the Islamic State led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
