Praising their new leader on Friday, Taliban officials said he was one of the most “trusted” associates of the late Mullah Omar, “a statement likely meant to rally followers behind the leadership at a time of a deeply fractured insurgency”, reported the AP.
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The announcement of Omar’s death threw into disarray a fledgling peace process fostered by neighboring Pakistan aimed at ending more than 13 years of war between the Taliban and the Western-backed government in Kabul.
Funeral prayers were held in a number of Pakistani cities to remember Mullah Omar.
The adviser also said that the meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart in Ufa, Russia, took place on the request of Narendra Modi.
A spokesman for the Pakistan Embassy in Washington who was contacted by the Post cited the Taliban statement in dismissing claims that Omar had ever been in Pakistan or that the Islamabad government had knowledge of his presence.
But some intelligence officials estimate Mansour only directly controls about 40 per cent of fighters in the field, he said. “Part of this has to do with lack of faith in the leadership of Mullah Mansour – perhaps [he’s] not as capable or charismatic or as influential, obviously, as Mullah Omar“.
But before it is assumed that the Taliban is going soft, Mansoor’s newly-appointed deputy is Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the Haqqani Network.
“If he gets the credibility, it might not be such bad news to have Mansour replace the invisible Mullah Omar“, she said. He was Omar’s deputy and is said to be close to the intelligence establishment in Pakistan, which maintains ties with Taliban leaders based there.
According to Mujda, Pakistani officials who were handling the talks were at odds with Mansoor, who insisted that the Taliban’s political office in Qatar take the lead in any negotiations.
But the internal opposition is unlikely to prevent Mansour from proceeding with peace talks launched in the Pakistani hill station of Murree earlier this month.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, a journalist who covered the Taliban for years said the way Mansoor’s election was announced, “it is obvious that it is true”.
In a letter published on the Taliban website, Zakir wrote that he had read reports “that I had differences with Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour”.
The confirmation of Omar’s death ends years of speculation about the fate of the leader, who was not seen in public since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban from power.
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The Haqqanis have been blamed for some of the most spectacular attacks against American targets in Afghanistan, a raid on Kabul’s top hotel, an assassination attempt on then-President Hamid Karzai and a suicide bombing at the Indian Embassy.
