On Sunday, the Taliban issued a written statement purportedly quoting Jalaluddin Haqqani, the leader of the notoriously brutal Haqqani insurgent group, in an effort to quell rumors about his death and further support Mansoor.
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U.S. officials, who until days ago were optimistic that the peace talks would bear fruit after a 14-year conflict that has cost thousands of U.S. lives and billions of dollars, say they have no idea which direction the post-Omar Taliban will take or what impact his death will have on the group’s mindset, cohesion or tenuous appetite for ending the conflict.
On Thursday, the Taliban officially appointed Mansoor as their supreme leader during a summit, in which many senior commanders of the group participated.
“We must be united, otherwise our enemies will win in our separation”, Mansoor said. “This is a big responsibly on us”. The Taliban’s media branch formally proclaimed Mullah Mansour had become the new Amir ul Mumineen-or “the commander of the faithful”-a title Mullah Omar’s followers had bestowed upon him”. A second round of talks was slated to take place in Islamabad on Friday but was postponed after the Taliban confirmed Omar’s death.
Manan said: “We have not declared allegiance to anyone and will never do it because of the differences over the new leader”.
Afghan officials said, however, that they believed a cease-fire would be on the agenda in the next rounds of talks aimed at ending a more than decade-long Taliban insurgency.
A Pakistan military statement quoted Ambassador Feldman as saying he “hoped with all sincerity that talks would resume soon to bring lasting peace”. Local security forces increasingly find themselves under attack as North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and U.S. troops ended their combat mission in the country at the end of previous year.
Haji Deen Muhammad, who led the Afghan government team in the first round of talks with the Taliban, said Kabul wants to convert the talks into a formal dialogue process.
Mansoor has effectively been commanding the Taliban as Mullah Omar’s deputy for the last three years, and has called on loyal commanders to intensify the war against the Afghan government in recent months.
Like Mullah Omar, Haqqani has been reported dead on a number of occasions, but the reports have not been independently verified.
He also gives his backing to Mullah Akhtar Mansur as Omar’s successor and recommends that the Taliban maintain its “unity and discipline”. He said the council would hold a meeting to elect a new leader. The rival Islamic extremist group, which already controls about a third of Syria and Iraq with affiliates in Egypt and Libya, has established a small foothold in Afghanistan and is actively recruiting disillusioned Taliban fighters.
Matthew Walding, an Associate Fellow at Chatham House, told Newsweek that although the Taliban movement does require a spiritual role model, the nature of Mansoor’s hasty appointment could actually be “detrimental to a peace process”.
The new Afghan Taliban leader appealed for unity in the insurgency in his first public message released yesterday amid reports his predecessor’s family members opposed his selection. “Our decisions all must be based on Shariah law”, he said in the recording.
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The jihadi group has been fighting the US-backed Afghan government since being ousted from power after the US invasion in 2001.
