The United States hopes new Taliban leader, Mullah Habatullah Akhundzada will choose peace and work towards a negotiated solution to bring an end to violence in Afghanistan, a US State department spokesman said on Wednesday.
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In an audio recording released by the Taliban on Wednesday, Akhundzada vowed never to “bow down” to its enemies, and said the loss of Mansour will inspire his insurgency to fight even harder.
“We have been carefully evaluating all the information that we had and we are now confirming that the person killed in the USA drone strike was Mullah Mansour, who was carrying fake travelling documents with him”, said Sartaj Aziz.
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 U.S. drone strike.
The US and Afghan governments said Mansoor had been an obstacle to a peace process that had ground to a halt when he refused to participate in talks earlier this year. The Afghan government’s cooperation in this regard is an imperative for mutual security, he said. “No, no we will not come to any type of peace talks”, Hibatullah Akhundzada, said in the recording.
Senior Taliban figures have said his death could strengthen the movement, as he was a divisive figure.
Instead, some experts said, Akhundzada was likely to pursue aggressive attacks throughout the summer, intensifying the pressure on Obama to reconsider his plan to withdraw United States military trainers and special forces and leave the decision on how to end America’s longest war to his successor.
The Afghan government says the group should use this opportunity to disarm and join the peace table.
Thomas Ruttinger, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network in Kabul, said that although Akhundzada is known as a hard-line cleric, he eventually may be more willing to reopen peace negotiations – an idea that Mansour had opposed.
He said DNA reports of Wali Muhammad, the man suspected to be the Taliban leader, will further confirm the killing of Mansour.
A spokesman for Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah called on the new Taleban leader to join talks or face dire consequences. “In less than a year, the peace process has been scuttled twice”.
Talking about the implications of the U.S. move, the adviser said Mansoor’s killing had negatively affected efforts to seek a political solution to the long running turmoil in the war-torn country.
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Pakistani authorities have detained two officials from southwestern Baluchistan who helped Mansour obtain his Pakistani national identity card, the interior ministry said.
