But “all indicators” at present point that it was Mansour, Aziz added.
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Obama was speaking the day after the militants named Haibatullah Akhundzada as their new leader, elevating a low-profile religious figure in a swift power transition after the death of Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a USA drone strike.
“Regardless of who leads them, the Taliban have zero incentive to negotiate on their determination to restore their brand of Islamic rule”.
Exphasising on the need of Afghan government’s cooperation for security in the region, Aziz said “effective border management is vital for checking infiltration across the long and porous Pakistan-Afghanistan border”.
His views are regarded as hawkish, and he could be expected to continue in the aggressive footsteps of Mansour.
Pakistani foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz told a news conference in Islamabad Thursday that “all indications” available from Pakistani officials, who he said were in touch with the Taliban, suggested its slain chief, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, was readying to come to the negotiating table.
After Haqqani was sidelined, Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, a son of late Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar who attended the meeting, was put forward as leader, but turned the offer down because he feared he lacked battle experience and was too young, said a Taliban commander at the “shura”.
Rasool’s deputy, Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi, said the faction would not accept Akhundzada’s leadership for the same reason they rejected Mansour: He was elected by a small clique of Pakistan-based insiders with little input from the rank-and-file or field commanders in Afghanistan.
“But (they) feared it could increase their hardships if Haqqani is made emir as he is the most wanted Taliban figure in the United States”.
Mere hours after the Taliban announced its new leader, a suicide blast attack on a bus full of judiciary department employees claimed 11 lives and injured 10 people in the Afghan capital of Kabul.
“While expressing his serious concerns over the said drone strike, the Chief of the Army Staff said such acts of sovereignty violations are detrimental to relations between both countries and are counter-productive for the ongoing peace process for regional stability”, army said.
Aziz said that those talks were “scuttled at a key stage” after the news of the death of Taliban founding leader Mullah Omar was leaked to the media. The insurgents have been fighting to overthrow the Kabul government since 2001, when their own Islamist regime was overthrown by the US invasion.
He noted that after the death of Mullah Mansoor, we called on all Taliban not to repeat past mistakes and appoint a new leader with complete consensus.
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The adviser said that according to the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Mansour was traveling with a different name.
