Mansoor grew up in Maiwand district of Kandahar province in Afghanistan, and lived not far from the home of Mullah Omar when the country descended into civil war after the withdrawal of Soviet troops.
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The White House on Friday said intelligence services have confirmed that Taliban leader Mullah Omar is dead, but the exact circumstances of his death remain unclear.
Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour has been named the leader of the Taliban as the terrorist organization grapples with peace negotiations-related infighting that has triggered defections to the growing Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) group.
Mullah Mansoor was a senior figure in the Taliban and had been acting as Mullah Omar’s deputy for the past three years.
It also apologizes for “any mistakes Mullah Omar (made) during his rule of Afghanistan, ‘ and asks all Afghans and Muslims to forgive him”.
Citing Afghan and Pakistani officials, Turkey’s Anadolu news agency said that sources had reported a rift among Taliban militants over the recent appointment of Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour as the group’s new leader.
Bette Dam, author of an upcoming biography of Mullah Omar, said the supreme leader’s absence paralyzed many Taliban officials.
Pakistan’s foreign office said a planned second round of meetings set for Friday would be delayed at the request of the Taliban leadership.
Haseeb Sediqi, the spokesman for Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security, told AFP on Wednesday that Omar died in hospital in Karachi “under mysterious circumstances”. “We encourage the Taliban to heed President (Ashraf) Ghani’s call for reconciliation and make genuine peace with the Afghan government“.
The Quetta Shura has sent a six-member team to Qatari capital Doha to meet with one of its leaders, Tayyab Agha, seeking his support for Mansour, according to another Taliban source close to the leadership.
A report in the New York Times said, “Yet even by Mullah Omar’s standards, his elusiveness in his final years was remarkable”.
Mansour, who was named the new Amir-ul-Momineen — “commander of the faithful” — faces staunch internal resistance from some members of the Taliban’s ruling council, the Quetta Shura, who accuse Pakistan of hijacking the movement. “Mansour has been running Taliban affairs for two years now, negotiating and organising fighting successfully, so he’s fully capable (to take over)”, said Shah. With such a positive myth built around him, Mullah Omar was the glue that held the fractious Taliban together. The Taliban founder has not been seen in public since 2001, leading to widespread speculation of his whereabouts and multiple reports of his death over the last decade.
Due to his ailment, the militant “commander” had handed over operational command of the Haqqani network to his son, Sirajuddin.
They favour Yaqoob, Omar’s son, for his successor, and claim pro-Pakistani elements of the terror group have forced Mansour on them as he is in favour of continuing peace talks.
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He used his North Waziristan base to direct the Haqqani network’s operations.
