Afghan government says it won’t separately deal with Taliban

“I do not accept this selection of Mullah Akhtar Mansoor because only a few chose him”, Mullah Abdul Manan said.

Senior Taliban members, who are opposed to Mullah Mansoor’s ascendency, on Sunday launched a parallel Shura and declared themselves as “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”.

It has also raised concerns about the impact a split could have on direct peace talks with the government, which only began for the first time in July.

In a 30-minute speech, the man purporting to be Mansoor seemed to be carefully parsing his words to calm internal dissent and solidify his political base inside the Taliban, urging his fighters to remain unified and continue the jihad, or holy war, to establish an Islamic state in Afghanistan. A second round, in Pakistan, was postponed Friday after the announcement of Omar’s death.

Mutasim Agha Jan, the former finance minister and a close confidant of Mullah Omar, has also refused to submit to the leadership of Mullah Mansoor, an official close to Mutasim told The Express Tribune.

Fledgling peace talks between the Taliban and the federal government halted final week after Afghan authorities introduced Mullah Mohammad Omar had died in April 2013. A Taliban statement Monday said condolences for Mullah Omar and congratulations for Mullah Mansoor had been flooding them from across Afghanistan. The new Taliban leader was, however, quick to add that everything will be in “line with the Islamic Sharia”.

As the leadership crisis deepened, the Taliban released a statement from one of its most notorious commanders pledging loyalty to Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor, who was chosen to lead after the death of the Taliban’s reclusive, one-eyed founder was announced last week.

Those commanders have made steady gains in recent months across northern Afghanistan – far from the group’s traditional heartland – as Afghan security forces have struggled in the absence of U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation combat troops, who switched to a support and training role at the end of previous year.

Mullah Omar led the movement for some 20 years.

Officials said on Saturday that Taliban gunmen had surrounded a police station in southern Uruzgan province and were holding 70 police officers hostage. The image was provided by a senior Taliban figure on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release it. Its authenticity could not be independently verified by NBC News. Jalaluddin’s son Sirajuddin was elected as the Taliban’s deputy to Mansoor – a move possibly aimed at ensuring a steady cash flow from the Haqqani’s wealthy backers and appeasing hardliners.