Death of Taliban leader ‘could unify group’

In this Aug. 1, 2015 file photo, shows Taliban leader Mullah Mansour. (AP)

KABUL: A senior Afghan Taliban figure said the death of their leader in a US drone strike last week could make the movement stronger and unify their ranks.
Mullah Mohammad Ghous, a foreign minister during the Taliban’s 1996-2001 rule of Afghanistan, says Mullah Akhtar Mansour’s death clears the way for those who left after he became leader to return to the insurgency.
Pakistan's interior minister said on Tuesday he could not confirm that Mansour had been killed in a US strike, saying that the body recovered from near the Afghan border was charred beyond recognition.
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told reporters that DNA samples had been collected from the remains and would be tested against a relative who came forward to claim the body.
"The government of Pakistan cannot announce this without a scientific and legal basis," he said.
But still, Afghan Taliban are struggling to find a successor to Mansour. Mullah Yakoub, the Taliban founder’s son, and Sirajuddin Haqqani, an implacable foe of US forces, were seen as the two frontrunners for the job.
“Yakoub has refused to accept the role, saying he is too young for it,” a senior Taliban source in northwest Pakistan told AFP.
“Mansour’s deputy and operational head of the Haqqani network, Sirajuddin Haqqani, has also refused due to personal reasons.”
That development will complicate the job of the Taliban’s supreme council, which has been holding emergency meetings since Sunday at an undisclosed location in Pakistan to find a unifying figure for the leadership post.
The insurgents have yet to officially confirm the death of Mansour, which has thrown the deeply factionalized Taliban into disarray nine months after he was elevated to the Taliban leadership following a bitter power struggle.
“The main challenge is to save the Taliban movement from being further divided,” another Taliban source told AFP, adding that supreme council members were constantly changing the venue of their meetings to avoid potential air strikes.
“It will take time to reach a consensus for the leadership position.”
Other candidates in the fray include Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the movement’s former deputy who is said to be close to the Pakistani military establishment.