KABUL // Mullah Akhtar Mansour, the newly chosen supreme leader of the Taliban, may be one of the group’s founding members but some within the movement believe that his loyalties lie elsewhere
The longtime trusted deputy of former leader Mullah Omar is facing staunch internal resistance from some members of the Taliban’s ruling council, the Quetta Shura, who accuse Pakistan of hijacking the movement.
“Mansour is seen as a man of Pakistan – that is why severe differences are going on among the Taliban leadership,” said a midlevel Taliban official.
Some Taliban are also unhappy at the thought that Mansour may have deceived them for over a year about the death of Omar, while others accuse him of riding roughshod over the process to appoint a successor.
And, in the clearest sign yet of the challenge that the militant faces in uniting the deeply divided group, at the Taliban meeting on Wednesday night where Mansour was named as the new leader, several senior figures in the movement, including the son and brother of Omar, walked out in protest.
“Many Taliban commanders and members of the Quetta Shura will not accept his leadership,” said Kabul-based military analyst, Jawed Kohistani.
“His selection will only widen the rift within the Taliban.”
But the internal opposition is unlikely to prevent Mansour from proceeding with peace talks with the Afghan government launched earlier this month in the Pakistani hill station of Murree.
“Mullah Mansour is ... a moderate, pro-peace, pro-talks person,” said Abdul Hakim Mujahid, a former Taliban official and a member of the Afghan High Peace Council.
“I believe that under him the peace process will be strengthened and the Taliban will become part of political process in Afghanistan.”
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