Mullah Omar: Taliban Denies Death Reports

Afghanistan’s spy agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), had said in November last year that Omar had possibly died.

Wednesday’s comments came after the BBC and the Wall Street Journal reported earlier in the day that unnamed sources in Afghanistan were saying the Taliban leader was dead.

Taliban leader Mullah Omar died in a Karachi hospital in 2013, Afghan security officials have insisted, despite the group’s spokesman telling Sky News he is “alive and leading the movement”.

Under Omar’s leadership, the Taliban offered safe haven to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, precipitating the U.S. military action in Afghanistan after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. In his statement, he gave his approval for the process of a peace dialogue with the Afghan government, referring to them as “legitimate”.

“He was very sick in a Karachi hospital and died suspiciously there”, he said, without elaborating.

A later statement from Ghani’s office said its confirmation of Mullah Omar’s death was based on “accurate information” and that his demise would benefit peace efforts.

Omar and Bin Laden were close allies, with the Saudi leader of Al-Qaeda helping to finance the Taliban’s rise to power in Afghanistan.

Reports of the reclusive leader’s death have surfaced in the past.

Nicholas Haysom, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, noted that alleged confirmation of Omar’s death had emanated from Pakistan.

It said that Omar left school in 1979 and began fighting Soviet forces following their invasion of his nation that year.

Asked to explain the contradiction between reports quoting Omar’s name and insiders’ knowledge that he was long dead, an expert on the Taliban shrugged and said the messages were intended to keep up the spirits of beleaguered Taliban fighters.

According to US broadcast media outlet the Voice of America, Afghan Taliban have denied the reports of death of their leader.

S-led coalition in 2001, and there has been speculation for years among militant circles that he was either incapacitated or had died.

If his death is confirmed, it could complicate the peace bid amid potential succession battles within the Taliban.

They agreed to meet again in the coming weeks, drawing global praise, but many ground commanders openly questioned the legitimacy of the Taliban negotiators, exposing risky faultlines within the movement.

The injection of cash, which comes as the Taliban steps up its annual summer offensive launched in late April, has helped Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves reach a fresh high of about $19 billion, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) officials said.

Consider that the Taliban, for at least a few years now, hasn’t been a monolithic organization, with a clear command structure with Omar at its apex.

The most recent was earlier this month, backing peace talks involving the Taliban.