Afghanistan said on Wednesday that Omar, the elusive leader of the Taliban movement fighting to topple the government, died more than two years ago.
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At least nine months ago senior commanders within the Taliban were reported to know about Omar’s death and two – Mullah Mansour Dadullah and Mullah Abdul Qayum Zakir – wrote letters, intercepted by Afghan intelligence officers and seen by the Independent, which urged members to rebel against Mansour.
The news comes as a Taliban representative and the group’s Twitter account confirmed the death of Omar Mullah.
As Afghan officials quietly expressed optimism that peace will eventually prevail, the first fissures began appearing Friday in the Taliban’s veneer, when Mullah Omar’s son Yacoob said that he and other senior leaders rejected the manner and the result of the election for a new leader. According to Mujda, Pakistani officials who were handling the talks were at odds with Mansoor, who insisted that the Taliban’s political office in Qatar take the lead in any negotiations.
It was not immediately known when the talks would be held again.
“This confirmation of Mullah Omar’s death will cause all sorts of problems for the Taliban”, Kugelman says.
But the emergence in Afghanistan of IS, renowned for its beheadings and rein of brutality in the Middle East, is seen by some as more psychological warfare than a real threat.
Mansour spent part of his life in Pakistan, like millions of Afghans who fled the Soviet occupation.
The Taliban said Thursday that Mullah Omar’s family had confirmed his death from an unspecified illness, though no time frame was given.
He added that Mansoor’s involvement in drug smuggling also gave him a better financial position compared to other Taliban commanders. In a statement emailed to media, the Taliban quoted Mullah Omar’s brother and one of his sons as asking for forgiveness for “mistakes” he made at the helm of the militant group.
The series of moves, which also included strengthening ties with a militant faction with al-Qaida links, pointed to possible rifts within the Taliban and a potential major blow to hopes for negotiating an end Afghanistan’s 14-year conflict.
Mansoor’s credibility is already in question over his continued silence over the death of his supreme leader and putting out false statements on his behalf, (mis)leading the fighters to believe that not only was their leader alive and supervising their “holy war against foreign occupation forces”, but was also endorsing the Islamabad-sponsored peace talks.
Holding Pakistan’s feet to fire diplomatically to rein in the Taliban rump must be a front burner issue now that its lead proxy jihadist is dead.
In a piece of rare good news from Afghanistan, Ghani’s gambit has paid off. After sheltering Taliban leaders for the past 14 years, Pakistani military officials are putting intense pressure on the Taliban to attend the talks.
Despite suspicions about his whereabouts, the search for Mullah Omar always took a backseat to the hunt for Usama bin Laden, who was killed by a team of Navy SEALs in May 2011.
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Fourteen years after they were driven out of power, the Afghan Taliban are facing their biggest challenge.
