Taliban release audio message to prove leader is alive

[Zarvan]

Mansoor was announced as the new Taliban leader in late July after the group confirmed the death of Mullah Omar [Reuters]
The Afghan Taliban have released an audio message purportedly from their leader dismissing claims that he was killed in a gunfight during a gathering of several Taliban figures in Pakistan.

In a 16-minute message released on Saturday, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor advised his followers not to pay attention to rumours, describing them as "propaganda".

"I have recorded my message to let everyone know that I am alive. I've never had a fight with anyone, no meeting was held and I have not been to Kuchlak (in Pakistan) in years. All this is a lie and a propaganda against us," he said.

"This propaganda shows how weak those people are to say things that are not true."

Related: Taliban denies leader was injured in a gunfight

Afghan officials said on Wednesday that Mansoor had been wounded on Tuesday in Pakistan. A day later, they claimed the Taliban leader had succumbed to his injuries.

Peace talks

In his audio message, Mansoor also said that the Taliban "won't agree to have peace talks if our demands are not met".

The claims over Mansoor's death came after renewed efforts to revive peace talks with Taliban fighters.

The negotiations were postponed after the announcement of the Taliban leader Mullah Omar's death in late July, and his replacement by Mansoor.

Related: Profile: Mullah Akhtar Mansoor

But factions emerged following Mansoor's appointment, with some saying the decision was not made with everyone's consent.

Rifts

Last month, the breakaway faction of the Taliban elected its own leader, Mullah Mohammed Rasool Akhund, sparking speculation over the unity of the group.

The spokesperson of the breakaway faction, Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi, expressed interest in peace talks last month.

Violent clashes between the two rival Taliban groups erupted in southern Afghanistan early last month that left several dead from both sides confirmed the rift.

Mansoor is only the second leader the Taliban have had, after Omar, an elusive figure who founded the group in the 1990s.

Source: Al Jazeera

Taliban release audio message to prove leader is alive - Al Jazeera English

 

[Stannis Baratheon]

I am guessing the absence of video is due to him suffering injuries.

 

[I S I]

Roger that. The swine is alive..
I repeat the swine is alive..

 

[A-Team]

Roger that. The swine is alive..
I repeat the swine is alive..

OK I had a LOL moment here good one

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

@ISI @A-Team

You do realize that he's one of the few Taliban leaders open to negotiations and an end to violence? The people opposing him in the internal Taliban power feud are all hard-liners in favor of continued war and attacks.

I'm not suggesting he should be trusted blindly, but he represents the best option for engagement with the Taliban. If the process fails, as it did in Swat for Pakistan, then everyone goes to plan B, as Pakistan did - we wipe out all combatants and negotiations will only be over the terms of surrender and integration under the constitution.

But for the process to fail, the process first needs to start, and for the process to start, various factions within the Afghan government need to get on the same page and support the process rather than undermine it, and the Afghan Government needs to get the NDS under control.

 

[A-Team]

@ISI @A-Team

You do realize that he's one of the few Taliban leaders open to negotiations and an end to violence? The people opposing him in the internal Taliban power feud are all hard-liners in favor of continued war and attacks.

I'm not suggesting he should be trusted blindly, but he represents the best option for engagement with the Taliban. If the process fails, as it did in Swat for Pakistan, then everyone goes to plan B, as Pakistan did - we wipe out all combatants and negotiations will only be over the terms of surrender and integration under the constitution.

But for the process to fail, the process first needs to start, and for the process to start, various factions within the Afghan government need to get on the same page and support the process rather than undermine it, and the Afghan Government needs to get the NDS under control.

Thank your for your comment, I think the fundamental issue here is not peace between the Afghan government and the Taliban but peace between the Afghan sand the Pakistani states, groups such as the Taliban, Hizb-Islami, Haqqani or TTP are just puppets of a greater game, when there is a fundamental change of narrative between the governments, peace with these groups will follow. Mullah Mansoor is just a name, someone else will replace him but peace or war depends if the Afghan and Pakistan states come to some kind of conclusion about the way forward.

/Peace

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Thank your for your comment, I think the fundamental issue here is not peace between the Afghan government and the Taliban but peace between the Afghan sand the Pakistani states, groups such as the Taliban, Hizb-Islami, Haqqani or TTP are just puppets of a greater game, when there is a fundamental change of narrative between the governments, peace with these groups will follow. Mullah Mansoor is just a name, someone else will replace him but peace or war depends if the Afghan and Pakistan states come to some kind of conclusion about the way forward.

/Peace

The way forward is to let the proposed peace process fail or succeed - if it fails, there is only one option left, the option that Pakistan took when her own peace process failed.

The fundamental issue here is that one faction within the Afghan government and NDS keeps undermining the agreements between the Pakistani government and Ghani, to take the peace process forward and see what the Taliban can be convinced to compromise on and whether the final compromises agreed upon are acceptable to the Afghan people.

The Murree talks were the first step, undermined by the NDS and factions within the Afghan government, just as the latest agreement between Ghani and Pakistan is being undermined by statements and allegations related to Mullah Mansour by the same factions of the Afghan government and the NDS.