Afghan Taliban issues statement quoting leader of the Haqqani Network to prove

Although it is too soon to know how these dynamics will play out, analysts and diplomats said the Taliban now faces an acute existential crisis that could lead to a permanent split, with some factions deciding to reconcile with the government and others lured into the embrace of the Islamic State, whose presence is rapidly growing in parts of Afghanistan.

The Taliban have announced that Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour is their new leader and released a purported audio statement from him Saturday.

But Mansour, 50, has powerful rivals within the Taliban who oppose negotiations and have been pushing for Mullah Omar’s son Yaqoob to take over the movement.

He called on Taliban members to remain cohesive.

According to Qari Hamza, Mullah Omar was also not in favour of Doha Office of Taliban set up to negotiate with the US and it was initiated by Mullah Mansour.

Under Mansoor’s shadow leadership, the Taliban has participated in a series of indirect meetings with government representatives, culminating in last month’s landmark meeting. Kabul held talks last month with the Taliban in an attempt to work towards a peace process for the war-ravaged nation, though the second round of talks that had been expected in Pakistan on Friday was postponed following the announcement of the death of Mullah Omar. That comes after Mullah Omar’s son, Yacoub, also warned Mansoor didn’t have the support of the wider Taliban.

The latest head of the Taliban is promising that the militant group will not rest until Afghanistan is a fundamentalist Islamic state, according to The Associated Press.

Just two days after the news broke of Afghan Taliban leader Mulla Omar’s death, another bit of startling news about the passing away of Jalaluddin Haqqani, formidable fighter and commander during the anti-Soviet resistance and the founder of the dreaded Haqqani network, has come to the surface.

Afghan officials said, however, that they believed a ceasefire would be on the agenda in the next rounds of talks aimed at ending a more than decade-long Taliban insurgency.

Taliban leaders and family members have confirmed that the former chief died two years ago.

But in the audio message, Mullah Mansour dismissed peace talks as “propaganda campaigns by the enemy”. He had not been seen in public since fleeing over the border into Pakistan after the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban from power.

The message spoke in support of the peace talks with the Kabul government, adding that the objective is the “end to occupation” by foreign armed forces.

While the insurgents have spread their footprint across the northern provinces, the traditional battlegrounds of the south and east bordering Pakistan remain vulnerable to large-scale Taliban attacks that seem designed to destroy the morale of the Afghan forces as insurgents continue to overrun districts, if only temporarily. “We are watching and waiting”, Feldman said”.

Haqqani, in his 70s, is reported to have been in ill health in recent years and has given up most day-to-day control of his Taliban-allied militant network to his son, Sirajuddin. One Taliban commander who refused to be named because he has no authority to speak publicly for the movement, said the appointment of Mansoor would “help IS recruitment and Im sure they will do their best to use this situation to the maximum.”.

In a letter published on the Taliban website, Zakir wrote that he had read reports “that I had differences with Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour. Omar’s death has put the whole leadership and organizational structure of the group at stake”, said Siegfried O. Wolf, director of research at the Brussels-based South Asia Democratic Forum (SADF).