Reports: Taliban chief Mullah Omar is dead

[Geee]

The Hill :

Sources told the BBC on Wednesday that the militant chief died two to three years ago. The BBC said that multiple Afghan administration and intelligence agency officials had claimed Omar is dead.

The Taliban has neither confirmed nor denied those reports, the news outlet added.

A spokesman for Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said that authorities were working to verify reports of Omar’s death.

“As soon as we get more authentication … we’re going to let the media and people of Afghanistan know about that,” said Sayed Zafar Hashemi, according to the BBC.

Omar last issued a public statement in mid-July in support of peace talks between Ghani’s administration and the Taliban.

His message appeared as a text document on the Taliban’s website, the BBC said, sparking rumors he was incapacitated or dead.

Omar led the Taliban to victory in Afghanistan’s civil war following the Soviet Union’s departure there.

America invaded Afghanistan in 2001 amid reports that Omar allied with al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden in the 9/11 attacks.

[Valin]

Meet The New Boss Same As The Old Boss

The Taliban’s new leadership is allied with al Qaeda
Bill Roggio and Thomas Joscelyn
July 31, 2015

The Taliban has announced that a new emir and two deputy emirs have been chosen to lead the organization following the confirmation of Mullah Omar’s death.

The Taliban’s new emir is Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, a longtime deputy to Omar. Mansour previously served as the minister of civil aviation and transportation during the Taliban’s rule from 1996 to 2001 and as the group’s shadow governor for the Kandahar province.

Mansour’s importance within the Taliban has long been well-known. The West has sought to negotiate a peace deal with Mansour, thereby recognizing him as one of the Taliban’s chief power players during Mullah Omar’s reign. US, NATO, and Afghan officials even believed at one point that they were directly negotiating with Mansour, only to learn they had been duped by an impostor.

According to the Taliban, Mansour’s top deputies are Moulavi Haibatullah Akhunzada, a “religious scholar” who previously headed the Taliban’s judiciary branch, and Sirajuddin (Siraj) Haqqani, the son of the “renowned jihadi and scholarly figure” Jalaluddin Haqqani.

Mansour and Siraj Haqqani are both allied with al Qaeda. Mansour recently described al Qaeda’s leaders as the “heroes of the current jihadist era.”

Siraj’s dossier is filled with ties to al Qaeda. For instance, files recovered in Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound show that he was working closely with bin Laden’s lieutenants in the months leading up to the al Qaeda master’s death. Siraj’s father, Jalaluddin, is a legendary jihadist figure and was one of Osama bin Laden’s most important backers in South Asia.

The new “Amir-ul-Momineen”

(Snip)