PESHAWAR: The Afghan Taliban on Wednesday acknowledged the death of their emir Mullah Akhtar Man­sour and announced the appointment of a cleric with no fighting experience as his successor.

Haibatullah Akhundzada, the new Taliban leader, in an audio message attributed to him, vowed to continue the policy of his predecessors Mullah Omar and Mullah Mansour.

In a two-page Pushto-language communiqué released to the media, Tali­ban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid conceded that Mansour had been killed in a drone strike by the “American tyrant” somewhere “between the border region of deserts of Kandahar and Balochistan’s Nushki” district on Saturday.

The militants’ confirmation came four days after it emerged that Mansour had been killed in a drone strike in Nushki while returning from a visit to Iran. A Pakistani passport and national identity card found at the scene of the attack identified the deceased as Wali Muhammad, a resident of Qila Abdullah.

Haibatullah made new emir as Taliban confirm Mansour’s death

Pakistan has yet to confirm the identity of the man killed in the drone strike. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Tuesday said that DNA samples had been collected and would be checked with that of a relative, who had come to collect the body.

In his audio speech, the newly appointed Taliban chief said: “They [Taliban’s enemies] have now started singing on media that now that Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Man­sour has left this world, the Taliban would agree to reconciliation.” Haibatullah Akhundzada said, “I swear on Allah, that those who call themselves Afghans, call themselves Muslims, call themselves Mujahid or call themselves (Afghan) refugees, they would ... continue the fight.”

Nomination process

The communiqué earlier said that “after thorough deliberations, applying wisdom and taking into account all aspects of the religious and jihadi issues, the leadership council and its organs nominated Sheikh Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada as its new emir and pledged their allegiance to him”.

The communiqué did not say where the leadership council met but it was believed to have met in Quetta to take stock of the situation arising out of the death of Mullah Mansour and appoint a new leader.

Said to be in his mid-50s, Akhundzada is a Noorzai Pushtun from Afghanistan’s southwestern Kandahar’s Punjwai district and is known to be a deeply religious person and a non-combatant, well versed in Islamic jurisprudence — a qualification that placed him at the top of Afghanistan’s supreme court during the Taliban rule.

“Akhundzada has been chosen the new emir to ensure and maintain unity,” Pakistan’s former ambassador to Kabul Rustam Shah Mohmand said.

“He is a relatively non-controversial person and there is a general acceptability,” he said. “I think he would manage to lead the movement for some time.”

The communiqué also announced the appointment of Sirajuddin Haqqani and Mawlawi Muhammad Yaqoub as Akhundzada’s deputies.

Reassuring all “mujahideen and the people at large not to worry”, the communiqué quoted the leadership council as saying that they would continue to carry the torch of Islam and jihad till the day of judgement under the newly-appointed leader, Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada”.

Yaqoub, the twenty-something son of Mullah Omar, is a recent graduate of madressah and lacks fighting experience but analysts say his nomination is aimed at keeping the Taliban movement united.

Akhundzada’s and Yaqoub’s relative inexperience in battlefield, analysts say, means that Sirajuddin Haqqani, head of the Haqqani network (HQN), would enjoy real power and authority, when it comes to organising major attacks.

The United States believes that Sirajuddin, also known as khalifa among his fighters, is the head of most lethal and deadly insurgent group, responsible for the death of hundreds of US and thousands of Afghan security personnel.

He is also blamed for some of the audacious and deadly attacks in Kabul, killing and wounding hundreds of people. The US, which has placed a head bounty of up to $10 million on Sirajuddin, has continued to pressure Pakistan to take action against HQN.

Considered one of the main contenders for the Taliban leadership, Sirajuddin’s nomination would have created problems for Pakistan. A former top US commander had described the HQN a veritable long arm of the Pakistani premier intelligence agency, the ISI.

“Haqqani leads his own group which he has aligned with the Taliban,” Rustam Shah Mohmand said. “He operates in Khost, Paktia, Paktika and Kabul, unlike Taliban leaders who have sway in much of Afghanistan,” he said.

“His nomination (as emir) would have caused more complications and caused more divisions,” the ex-ambassador said.

Observers say Mansour’s death, which President Barack Obama described as a “milestone”, was unlikely to help rejuvenate the now almost-dead peace process in Afghanistan.

“I think the situation is going to get worse now,” Mohmand cautioned. “I see a new impetus in the war in Afghanistan after Ramazan.”

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2016