Dissident commanders of Taliban leader to announce new rival

The opposed commander of Taliban leader unanimously and away from part of Mullah Mansour, Taliban current leader will announce a new leader up to the next few days, spokesman of opposition group of Mullah Mansour said.

The Taliban group had been in disagreement over who should succeed former supremo Mullah Omar, whose death was announced in July.

Mansoor, the Taliban’s former aviation minister, told his commanders that Omar had died two years ago and declared himself the new Taliban leader.

He said Taliban’s supreme decision-making body “Rahbari Shura,” or Supreme Council, had appointed him as the new leader. Others didn’t believe it and opposed his ascension.

It triggered widespread ‎differences within the militant network and many senior Taliban commanders refused to accept Mansoor as leader or work under his command.

The Taliban later formed a council of prominent religious scholars, the Ulema Council, to resolve differences between the two rival factions.

“There is one agenda, and that’s to choose the new emir (leader) unanimously and get rid of Mullah Mansour,” Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi, a spokesman for the anti-Mansour faction told Reuters.

Niazi said the dissident commanders would not accept Mansour despite the Taliban’s brief occupation of Kunduz earlier this month, their most important military success since the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban government in 2001.

In the meantime, Taliban’s former leader of Jehishul Muslimin group says that Afghanistan will face further challenges with the existence of two leaders in Taliban group and the Peace Talks process will face a deadlock.

Analysts say the recent brief occupation of the northern city of Kunduz has cemented Mansour’s power, boosting his reputation among foot soldiers and causing the U.S. government and NATO to slow plans for withdrawing their troops.

But in the opaque manoeuvring around the Taliban leadership, it is unclear whether the anti-Mansour faction will seek to challenge him on the battlefield, how many fighters they control or how much money they have.

A leadership battle within the Taliban could create space for militants loyal to Islamic State to expand their foothold in the region, and could discourage Mansour from resuming Pakistan-backed peace talks with the Afghan government.

The dissident Taliban faction includes Niazi, a former Taliban provincial governor close to Mullah Omar; Zakir; Mullah Hasan Rahmani and Mohammad Rasool, two Taliban leaders with substantial power bases; and Mullah Abdul Razaq, a former Taliban interior minister.

The dissidents say they also have the support of Tayyab Agha, the former head of the political office in Qatar.

Source: Reuters