KABUL (SW): As the Taliban ponder over their new supreme leader, analysts believe Sirajuddin Haqqani and Mulla Yaqub are the front runners.
Following the death of Mullah Mansour in a US drone strike on Saturday in Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province, the Taliban leadership has been reportedly conferring to choose a new “Amir” for the group.
Razaq Barq, an independent journalist in Baluchistan told Salam Watandar that the Taliban are busy in consultations for the past two days now. He added that among other contenders include militant commanders Haibatullah Norzai and Mullah Niazi. Barq went on to say that the Pakistani spy agency ISI is pushing to install Siraj Haqqani as the new Taliban supreme leader. In his views, all these top Taliban commanders are hawkish and are likely to prefer fight over talks.
Waheed Mujda, a Kabul based Taliban affairs expert, believes Mullah Yaqub is a strong contender as he hails from the greater Kandahar region. He expressed fears that since Yaqub, son of former Taliban leader Mullah Omar, is too young, he might get manipulated by intruding powers. Mujda noted that the factions of Taliban are likely to unite under Yaqub.
Another security affairs’ analyst, Habib Sharif said in this regard that if the selection takes place in Pakistan, the country is likely to influence the process and ensure their man Haqqani takes charge. He added that there is a possibility that the Taliban might chose someone as their head in Afghanistan, someone probably from their Qatar office. Moatasim Agha, a Taliban affiliate, has time and again demanded this.
On Tuesday, the NATO said in a statement that under Mullah Mansur's leadership, the Taliban continued to conduct brutal attacks across Afghanistan, leading to the death and suffering of countless Afghan civilians and security forces, and posing a major daily threat to the forces of the US and other NATO Allies and partners.
“We support an Afghan-led and owned process for peace and reconciliation, and welcome all efforts in this regard. This is the time for Afghans to talk to Afghans, so that Afghanistan can develop in peace and security”, a communiqué quoted the NATO Secretary General .
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