Mystery shrouds fate of Mullah Mansoor

KANDAHAR: Confusion surrounded the fate of Taliban supremo Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, who was shot in a firefight during an argument with commanders of the divided movement, after an Afghan government spokesman tweeted on Friday that he has died.

The hardline group has vehemently rejected claims by militant sources and intelligence officials that Mansoor was critically wounded in a shootout at an insurgent gathering near Quetta.

A government spokesman on Friday went further, claiming that Mansoor did not survive the clash, which threatens to derail a fresh regional push to jump-start Taliban peace talks.

“Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor died of injuries,” Sultan Faizi, the spokesman for the Afghan first vice president, wrote on Twitter without citing any evidence.

He did not immediately respond to AFP requests for more information.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected the claim as “baseless”, saying Mansoor is alive and well. The group kept longtime chief Mullah Omar’s death secret for two years.

The reported clash, which exposes dissent within the Taliban’s top ranks, comes just four months after Mansoor was appointed leader in an acrimonious leadership succession.

If confirmed, his death could intensify the power struggle within the fractious group and increase the risk of internecine clashes.

“If Mansoor has died, the Taliban will do everything in its power to keep that a secret for as long as possible,” Kabul-based military analyst Atiqullah Amarkhil said. “Mansoor’s death could spark new infighting over the Taliban leadership.”

The mystery surrounding the fate of Mansoor further deepened after the Taliban released an audio clip Thursday purportedly from the militant at whose house the firefight is said to have occurred.

A man claiming to be Abdullah Sarhadi, a commander in Mansoor’s group and former Guantanamo Bay detainee, staunchly rejected the reports as “enemy propaganda”.

There was no independent verification of the file, which raised the question of why the Taliban have not yet released an audio or video clip from Mansoor himself to bolster their claim. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2015.