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An Afghan store clerk waits for customers at a news stand where local papers carry headlines about the new leader of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, August 1, 2015.

– AFP pic, July 31, 2015.The new Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour has a reputation as a relative moderate who favours peace talks with the government, but his leadership already faces challenges to its legitimacy.

The foreign trooper is American and the remaining eight victims are Afghans, according to Afghan sources. “I think that was a little over-optimistic”. “Anything is possible”.

Mulla Omar’s brother, Abdul Mannan is already member of the Taliban Leadership Council, though he reportedly didn’t agree to Mansour selection as the new leader in the council’s previous meeting.

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 names and nationalities of the foreign military and civilian contractors killed were not released. WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP/Getty Images Afghan firefighters hose down the street outside Camp Integrity Saturday.

He allied himself to the Taliban after they took power in Kabul in 1996, serving as a cabinet minister under the militia’s supreme leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar.

He stopped trying to raise money or recruit new adherents.

In the fall of 2014 and winter of 2015, Afghan officials said, they intercepted two letters written by disaffected Taliban commanders who both referred to the possible death of Mullah Omar.

Pakistan’s GEO TV, citing unnamed “well-informed” people, reported that the Taliban’s supreme council, made up of the most powerful members, “unanimously” chose Mullah Mansour, when it met in the Pakistani city Quetta this week, to replace...

Afghan security forces inspect the site of an attack at the main gate of worldwide Hamed Karzai Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, August 10, 2015.

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.

However, the statement did not reveal when and where the meeting was held. This may put him in a position to revive the peace talks.

Heyatullah Amiri, district administrative chief of Khan Abad district, said a suicide bomber on foot targeted a meeting of criminal groups late on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, a massive truck bomb killed at least 15 people in a residential area of Kabul.