But the talks were postponed at the Taliban’s request as they were been focusing on leadership transition after Mullah Omar’s death.
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The Afghan Taliban said on Wednesday that a major dispute undermining the movement has been resolved, after relatives of the militant group’s late leader, Mullah Omar, pledged support for his appointed successor Mullah Mansour.
“It’s a huge success for Mullah Mansoor”, a senior member of the Afghan Taliban told NBC News on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Mullah Omar’s brother Mullah Abdul Manan Akhunda and his son Maulavi Mohammad Yaqoob on Tuesday pledged allegiance during a meeting attended by the religious clerics and senior Taliban leaders, Khaama press quoted a statement of Taliban group as saying. With the two countries seemingly on a path of reconciliation, there is more good news for the prospect of restarting the talks.
Emily Winterbotham, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, said: “There doesn’t seem to be a concrete leadership challenge to Mansour, but this does not mean the Taliban won’t face serious fragmentation moving forward”.
In the end, the Afghan Taliban had little choice but to unite around the leader supported by Pakistan, said Saifullah Mahsud of Islamabad-based think-thank FATA Research Center. “It also paves [the] way for [the] resumption of the peace process that was stalled in July after it became public that Mullah Omar had died years ago”, notes the report.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a suicide auto bombing killed four people, including the local chief of criminal investigations, in the Paghman district, west of the capital Kabul.
Abdul Qader, the district governor, said the attacker targeted a government compound that houses a police department and administrative offices.
The account was confirmed by the interior ministry deputy spokesman Najib Danish.
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“Forty Afghan security forces and prison guards were killed in the prison break and important military mujahideen officials have been freed”, said the Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
