By Lynne O’Donnell And Mirwais Khan, The Associated Press on May 25, 2016.
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Addressing a news conference here, days after Pakistan summoned the United States ambassador to convey its serious concerns at the drone strike, he confirmed the man killed was the Taliban leader who was travelling on a fake identity.
“The war is entering a more violent phase”, he added, his prediction punctuated by a suicide bombing in Kabul that killed 11 people shortly after Akhundzada’s selection was announced.
“He is an individual who, as head of the Taliban, was specifically targeting US personnel and troops inside of Afghanistan”, said Obama.
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.
Deputy presidential spokesman Zafar Hashemi said if the Taliban decide against joining the peace process, “they will face the fate of their leadership”.
A photo released by the Taliban shows their new supreme commander, Haibatullah Akhundzada, who will succeed their slain leader Akhtar Mansour.
Mullah Mohammad-Rasool, Head of the Splinter Group, criticised the appointment.
Haqyar was arrested shortly after calling the Taliban group leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor a martyr following his death in USA drone strike in Pakistan. He sought the Afghan Government’s cooperation on it. His views are regarded as hawkish, and he could be expected to continue in the aggressive footsteps of Mansour.
Akhundzada, believed to be around 60 years of age and a member of the powerful Noorzai tribe, was a close aide to Omar and is from Kandahar, in the south of Afghanistan and the heartland of the Taliban.
It was believed to be the first time the United States has targeted a senior Taliban figure in Pakistan. He went on to become the group’s “chief justice” after a US-led invasion toppled the Taliban government in 2001.
Russia’s special representative on Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, also told Russian state-run media that Haqqani was “the most radical figure” in the Taliban leadership, who could escalate military tensions in Afghanistan and complicate ongoing political negotiations.
Toner hoped that the fresh Afghanistan Taliban leader will choose talks over terror.
Before his killing, Mansour had written a will handpicking Akhundzada to be his successor, Taliban sources told AFP, in an apparent bid to lend legitimacy to his appointment. A former foreign minister under the Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Ghous, said that the choice of Akhundzada was “a very wise decision”.
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Haqqani has retained his position while the son of the group’s founder, Mullah Yaqoob, has been appointed as a second deputy to the new Taliban chief.
