ISLAMABAD:
Two days after Mullah Akhtar Mansoor stepped into the shoes of Mullah Omar, the new Afghan Taliban supremo cast doubts on the nascent peace process with the Afghan government, calling it the enemy’s propaganda, according to sources.
Pakistan says the second round of talks between the Taliban and Afghan government was postponed at the request of the orthodox militia following the confirmation of Mullah Omar’s death on Wednesday, reportedly.
Senior Taliban cadres and Afghan government officials were to meet somewhere in Pakistan on July 31 for a second round of peace and reconciliation talks. The first round was held in the popular tourist resort of Murree in the beginning of July.
In a brief speech to a gathering of senior Taliban leaders and religious scholars who elected him, the new Taliban supremo did not mention the Murree rendezvous. Several members of the Taliban’s powerful leadership council rejected Mullah Mansoor’s nomination, while Mullah Omar’s family, too, refused to pledge allegiance to him unless he is elected with consensus, local media sources reported.
On Saturday, the Taliban released a 33-minute audio of Mullah Mansoor, his first since his election, in which he spoke in detail about his predecessor’s policies, internal rift, ongoing insurgency, and glossed over the ‘reported peace process’.
