Taliban Chief Mullah Omar is Dead: Afghan Government

Seddiqi said Omar died in a hospital in Karachi, Pakistan in April 2013.

Others, however, question whether Mullah Omar is indeed dead. He also said he mentioned it at least three times in his past press conferences.

Renewed uncertainty over Omar’s fate could deepen divisions within the movement as rival commanders position to succeed him, in a possible setback for the fledgling peace process.

Although the Taliban are yet to confirm the death officially, commander who spoke on condition of anonymity assured Omar had died.

“These death confirmations and rejections are all part of a big pitch for power within an increasingly fractured and rudderless (Taliban) organization”, he said, speaking before the palace issued its statement.

“The Afghan government believes that the ground for the Afghan peace talks is more solid now than before and thus calls on all armed opposition groups to seize the opportunity to join the peace process”, the statement said.

“He was buried in Zabul province (in southern Afghanistan)”, said the official, citing Afghan intelligence sources.

“The bad news is that the hardline faction would then become relatively independent, perhaps even aligning with ISIS, which is a nightmare scenario for us”, the senior U.S. official said.

Earlier Wednesday, Zafar Hashemi, President Ashraf Ghani’s deputy spokesman, said the government was investigating reports that the Taliban leader was dead. Twice in 2011, the Taliban denied speculation that he had been killed.

And earlier this month in a message released in Omar’s name, the leader was quoted as hailing the peace talks as “legitimate”. The involvement of Pakistan, which has close ties with the Taliban leadership, appeared to signal a new level of seriousness to peace efforts.

Reports of Omar’s demise two years ago in Pakistan was leaked from government and intelligence sources throughout the day but were met with skepticism by many Afghans following recurring rumors of his death over the years, all of which have proved untrue.

The latest reports come just two days before a second round of peace talks between insurgents and the Afghan government is scheduled.

Omar, once a rural Islamic cleric, created the Taliban – the plural of the Pashto word for “student” – in the 1990s in the wake of the Soviet Union’s withdrawal from the country, aiming to impose Islamic law on Afghanistan and remove foreign influence from the country. His only communication with the outside world has been by messages posted on Taliban controlled web sites.

Omar was wanted by the US Department of State’s Rewards for Justice programme since October 2001 for sheltering Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda militants in the years prior to the September 11 attacks.

That prompted the US to declare war on the Taliban and overthrow its regime with the help of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.

The strategy has spread Afghan military resources thin after U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces ended their combat mission at the end of previous year. The thousands of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation troops that remain in Afghanistan are there in a training and support role.