LAHORE - The Afghan Taliban, otherwise perceived by their opponents as “stone age agents”, outsmarted their opposition by installing a dummy chief at its throne with two powerful deputies to run the real affairs of the outfit.
Mullah Haibtullah Akhundzada, the new chief of Afghan Taliban, is called a scholar of the organization while his two powerful deputies, Sirajuddin Haqqani and Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob, are seen as the real force behind the outfit.
According to Javed Ibrahim Paracha, believed to be close to Taliban, the Taliban leadership outmanoeuvred its opposition by giving Sirajuddin Haqqani the role of deputy of its chief.
Haqqani who is perceived by the US administration as its sworn enemy and close to establishment in Islamabad has been wisely put out of the mainstream by the Taliban consultative body “Shura”, apparently for the smooth sailing of the movement, said Paracha.
As far as Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob is concerned, he is less experienced and enjoys influence over Taliban only because of his late father Mullah Muhammad Umer, founder of the Taliban movement.
The Taliban need both Haqqani and Yaqoob, one is a fierce military commander and the other is binding force for the Taliban because of his father’s background, he added.
The Taliban are not using mere rhetoric regarding continuing fight, they would continue it till the withdrawal of the foreign forces, said Paracha when asked about resumption of peace talks.
Rustam Shah Mohmand, an expert on Afghan affairs, sharing his opinion, said Haibatullah Akhundzada is a well regarded man among the Taliban, but it seems the real force would side with Sirajuddin Haqqani and some influence would be exercised by Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob.
“I think the Taliban would not completely close the option of peace talks. But what possibly could they do is that they adopt the policy of gun and politics side by side. They would insist on withdrawal of foreign forces for meaningful peace dialogue,” said Mohmand.
“Having said that I would also add that it is difficult to predict an exact conduct of the Taliban because they operate in a highly secretive manner, its consultative body and its top deputies keep their cards secret till the end. That’s how they kept secret the death of Mullah Umer for a long time,” he added. Former Fata secretary Brig (r) Mehmood Shah who remained close to the Taliban emissaries said Sirajuddin Haqqani would be the man driving the Taliban as the shadow man of Mullah Haibatullah. Haqqani enjoys a considerable influence over the Taliban forces with a reputation of a fierce military commander.
Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob would be a symbolic figure as the second deputy to the new Afghan Taliban chief because of his late father who founded the Taliban organization, added Shah.
As far as the matter of peace talks is concerned, negotiated peace, by involving all the stakeholders, is the only way to settle the Afghan issue, he added.
Meanwhile, the death of Mullah Akhtar Mansour is still a mystery despite the US administration claims of killing the Afghan Taliban chief in a drone strike inside Pakistani territory in Balochistan.
Spokesman for Taliban Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed the death of Mullah Mansour, but he didn’t say that he was killed in the drone strike.
Adviser to PM on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, in a foreign ministry’s weekly briefing, confirmed Mansour’s death, saying all indicators confirmed the person killed in the drone strike was Mullah Akhtar Mansour.
An Afghan legislator, contrary to the US claims, said Taliban chief Mullah Mansour had died three months ago.
Shinki Krokheil told an international news agency, “Taliban are especially skilled in concealing the death of its leaders as they did about its former leader, Mullah Muhammad Umer whose death was announced two years later in 2015.”
“Now, there is a possibility that the group has concealed the death of Mansour for three months to select a new head,” she added. She called on the Afghan security and intelligence officials to start investigations into the matter.
Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was injured in a firefight following a verbal dispute at a meeting of militant commanders near Pak-Afghan border, Sultan Faizi, the spokesperson for the Afghan first vice president, told the media. The incident took place in the first week of December 2015. Four people were killed in the firefight. Mullah Mansour was among the injured, but the extent of his injuries was not clear, said the media reports.
The meeting was held at the home of Abdullah Sarhadi, a commander in Mansour’s group. “There were differences on some points, which later turned into harsh words. Then Sarhadi opened fire and others retaliated fire,” said media reports quoting Taliban sources.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid denied that any such firefight took place. The Afghan Taliban released an audio message of Mullah Mansour, rejecting reports of his death in a firefight with his own commanders.
It could not, however, be confirmed that the man in the audio was really Mullah Mansour.
Taliban commanders operating in Spin Boldak district of Afghanistan’s Kandahar province told the local people that Mullah Mansour died from injuries as a result of a gun-battle during a meeting somewhere near Pak-Afghan border in the first week of December 2015, according to Taliban sympathisers in the bordering towns.
But the mystery remains about the person named Wali Muhammad believed to be Mullah Mansour and killed in a US drone strike.