Afghan Taliban issues statement quoting ‘dead’ Jalaluddin Haqqani

Kabul-The new Afghan Taliban Chief Mullah Akhtar Mansoor called for unity in the ranks of the movement through his first audio message released Saturday amid reports that deceased former Chief Mullah Omar’s family members “opposed” his selection.

In the first public statement attributed to him, newly named Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor has called for a continuation of fighting in Afghanistan.

The Western source said senior Taliban leaders met in Quetta, Pakistan, this past week to discuss the death of Omar and the ongoing Afghan-Taliban peace talks.

However, the talks came to a temporary halt after the death of Mullah Omar as Taliban Shura sat to elect new head of the insurgent movement thus postponing the second round of talks scheduled to take place last Friday.

Manan said: “We have not declared allegiance to anyone and will never do it because of the differences over the new leader“. Mansoor confirmed that one of his deputies was Sirajuddin Haqqani, the son of renowned jihadi leader Jalaluddin Haqqani, founder of the fearsome Haqqani militant network blamed for some of Afghanistan’s deadliest suicide attacks.

Long-time Taliban leader Mullah Omar founded the Taliban in 1994.

Mansour served as the minister of civil aviation when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001. The Associated Press could not independently verify the identity of the man speaking in the roughly 30-minute audio clip, though Mujahid is in charge of all communications for the group.

Afghanistan’s spy agency, the National Directorate of Security, confirmed shortly after that Omar had in fact died in the Pakistani city of Karachi in 2013. “We hope they will embrace the second option”, he said, but added that U.S. officials could not yet speculate on the outcome.

On Thursday, the Taliban officially appointed Mansoor as their supreme leader during a summit, in which many senior commanders of the group participated.

Some Afghan leaders who are familiar with Mansoor insist that he is a moderate and pro-peace personality and hence the dialogue process could move forward.

“Decisions made by the Taliban are made according to religious principles, not according to an inheritable legacy, so it won’t be considered necessary for Mullah Omar’s son to take the leadership role”, he said. “Mullah Omar during his life had always stressed unity among the mujahideen”, said the statement released on Sunday. “It’s not clear if Mullah Omar had much, if any, influence left at the time of his death, and many believe he’d been reduced to a symbolic figurehead”, wrote correspondent Tom A. Peter.

A few dissident voices have emerged to claim that Mansoor’s selection was the work of a small faction of his supporters and that a far larger gathering of Taliban leaders is necessary to select Omar’s successor.

Under Mansoor’s shadow leadership, the Taliban has participated in a series of indirect meetings with government representatives.

In the hall of mirrors that represents policy in Afghanistan it was hard to make sense of the reflections accompanying the announcement that Mullah Mansour is now the head of the Taliban.

Among those opposing Mansour’s appointment includes Mullah Abdullah Mannan, the younger brother of Mullah Omar.

Observers said the coming days should reveal how the Taliban leadership crisis plays out – a process which could have a seismic effect on Afghanistan’s political landscape.