KABUL (SW): Following the confirmation of Mullah Omar’s death, the Taliban on Friday officially declared Mullah Akhrat Mohammad Mansoor as their new leader.
Members of the leading council of the Islamic Emirate, saints and scholars, all of them discerning and influential people, in the wake of a prolonged discussion, decided in a meeting to appoint the intimate and trusted associate of Mullah Mohammad Umar Mujahid and the former deputy head of the Islamic Emirate, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor, as the new leader of the Islamic Emirate, the group said in a message.
Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor, who was considered a reliable and suitable person for shouldering heavy tasks even in the lifetime of late Mullah Mohammad Umar Mujahid and had been administrating the Islamic Emirate since long therefore, it said.
Moulavi Haibatullah Akhunzada and Mullah Sirajuddin Haqqani have been declared as the deputy heads of the movement.
According to the UN, Akhtar Mohammad Mansour was listed on 25 January 2001 as Minister of Civil Aviation and Transportation of the Taliban regime.
He is a prominent member of the Taliban leadership. Mansoor was repatriated to Afghanistan in September 2006 following detention in Pakistan. He is involved in drug trafficking and was active in the provinces of Khost, Paktia and Paktika in Afghanistan as of May 2007. He was also the Taliban "Governor" of Kandahar as of May 2007, a UN Security Council Committee states on its official site.
He was actively involved in anti-governmental activity, in particular, recruiting individuals for the Taliban to fight against the Afghan Government and International Security Assistance Force, it adds.
According to the document, Akhtar Mohammad Mansour was a deputy to Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar Abdul Ahmad Turk in the Taliban Supreme Council as of 2009. Following the arrest of Mullah Baradar in February 2010 he was temporarily-in-charge of the Taliban Supreme Council.
Mansoor is generally considered a more moderate Taliban leader and has thrown his support strongly behind peace talks with the Afghan government in Kabul, the Wall Street Journal reported last year.
ENDS
