Prior to 2001, Maulvi Haibatullah was heading the military courts system of the Taliban.
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“The new leader is neither a political figure nor a military figure but is known and respected for jurisprudence and legal decision he is bound to reach out to others in the shura to discuss all issues”, he told CNN, referring to the Taliban’s leadership council.
The “shura”, or leadership council, was convened in haste after leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed by a US drone strike in Pakistan on Saturday, presenting the Taliban with their second succession in less than a year.
The Associated Press (AP) quotes senior Taliban figures as saying that the death of Mansour may unify terrorist group’s movement given that he was a divisive figure. He comes from southern Afghanistan’s Kandahar region known as the Taliban’s spiritual heartland. Afghan News Agency on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook.
Along with the stated desire to return to the hardline policies of the group’s founder, a statement announcing his appointment also names Mullah Omar’s son, Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoob, in a deputy role.
His lack of battlefield experience has led some analysts to suggest that new deputy Siraj Haqqani, the leader of a smaller USA -designated terror organization in Afghanistan, is likely to play a more visible role in day-to-day military operations.
“Within an hour of the announcement, a Taliban suicide bomber attacked a shuttle bus carrying court employees west of the Afghan capital, Kabul, killing as many as 11 people and wounding several others, including children”.
“All indicators confirm that the person killed in the drone strike was Mullah Akhter Mansour who was travelling on a fake identity”.
Toner refused to acknowledge that the Washington no longer trusted Islamabad as an ally and conveyed United States concerns on the alleged presence of certain “terrorist” groups in Pakistan.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, the group said in a statement.
So it is naive to think that the terrorist group would be ready to immediately sit down for peace talks, Russia’s special envoy said, adding that the swift election of a new leader show Taliban was far from being in disarray.
Indeed, rather than a break with the past, Akhundzada’s selection signals continuity for the insurgency, which has seized upon the drawdown of US -led forces to strike hard at the Afghan government over the past year, including a series of lethal bombings in the capital Kabul.
Local media reports said senior members of the Taliban had been keenly aware of the need to appoint a candidate who could fix the splits that emerged when Mansoor was appointed.
For the Taliban to agree to peace talks, its incentive structure would need to change – and that can only happen if the United States were to stage additional strikes in Pakistan against Taliban leaders.
As head of the Taliban’s group of religious scholars – rather than a military commander – he may have a different temperament toward the prospect of peace.
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The drone attack had “undermined the Afghan peace process”, Aziz said, but he added that he still believed that the way to resolve the Afghanistan’s conflict is through negotiation. Attacks in Kunduz are not necessarily ordered from Quetta, Dam said, and any new leader will find it hard to control all fronts at once.
