Al-Zawihiri Pledges Allegiance To New Taliban Chief

The new Taliban leader scored an important victory Thursday, however, when al Qaeda boss Ayman al-Zawahiri – one of the most prominent jihadists in the world – pledged allegiance to the Taliban.

“We pledge our allegiance (to the) commander of the faithful, Mullah Mohammed Akhtar Mansoor, may God protect him”.

“[ISIL] and terrorism pose a common threat to all the states in this region, so it’s not just an Afghan problem, it’s a regional problem [and] we support the government of Afghanistan … to work with other national partners to contain and dismantle this threat”.

Zawahiri’s statement comes as Mansour has struggled to secure the loyalty of other key players within the hardline Islamist movement.

The Taliban have not revealed when Omar died.

There would be no reason to mourn the decline of al-Qaida except that the main beneficiary will be Islamic State. His hope was that Pakistan could use that influence to bring the Taliban into peace negotiations with the Afghan government.

It will also be a challenge for Masnoor to build a broad support-base for himself across the wide spectrum of the Taliban groups.

The death of Mullah Omar has been exploited by IS to try to drive defections from al-Qaeda, analysts say. Mansour recently however received a much needed pledge of allegiance – that from the Al Qaeda. Zawahiri and al Qaeda considered Mullah Omar to be the leader of the global revolutionary movement.

Pakistan has expressed hope the visit can help revive stalled peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban.

However, the participation of Pakistan is vital to progress towards peace given the fact that the Afghan Taleban operate from its soil.

Afghanistan’s intelligence agency on Wednesday roundly blamed Pakistan’s army for the devastating attacks in Kabul. According to United Nations figures, civilian casualties sharply increased during the first half of 2015, with more than 1,500 killed.

That may especially be so with the Taliban on track to return to power some 13 years after our forces ousted the terrorist outfit from control of Afghanistan in the weeks after the 9/11 attacks. Al-Qaeda has broken its diplomatic ties with Islamic State, and has condemned its brutal tactics in conquered areas as un-Islamic and “barbaric.”

And he pledged to continue “jihad until every part of occupied Muslim land is free”. Those first few words are key.

“In al-Qaida’s world, especially in Zawahiri’s world, they’re very deliberative”, said Thomas Joscelyn, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and senior editor of The Long War Journal.