07-30-2015, 09:20 AM
Thu Jul 30, 2015 4:45am EDT
By Kay Johnson
KABUL (Reuters) -
The Taliban's official spokesman disavowed peace talks with the Afghan government on Thursday, throwing fledgling efforts to negotiate an end to 14 years of war into disarray.
The statement came a day after the Afghan
government said that Mullah Omar, the elusive
supreme leader of the Islamist militant
movement, had died two years ago in
neighboring Pakistan.
News of Omar's demise is likely to intensify a
struggle within the deeply divided group to
succeed him, clouding chances of a peace
process that had already run into trouble. In a reminder of the threat posed by insurgents
stepping up their campaign to overthrow the
Western-backed government, the Taliban
captured a district in the southern province of
Helmand that foreign troops struggled to secure for years.
The Taliban has taken control of pockets of
territory across the country since NATO
withdrew most of its forces at the end of 2014,
leaving the Afghan army and police to quell the violence.
Thousands of people are killed each year. "We have heard from the news media that the
second round of talks between the Islamic
Emirate and the Kabul administration will start
soon in Pakistan or China," said Taliban
spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. "The Islamic Emirate has handed all authorization to its political office and they are not aware of this process," he added in a statement that did not refer to Omar.
The Taliban has yet to comment officially on his death.
Afghan and Pakistani officials had said that a
second round of meetings would be held
between Taliban representatives and the Kabul government this week. The two sides met for inaugural negotiations earlier this month in Pakistan.
POWER STRUGGLE
So far, neither the Taliban nor Pakistani officials have confirmed Afghanistan's declaration on Wednesday that Mullah Omar died two years ago in a hospital in the Pakistani city of Karachi.
"We are aware of the reports and trying to
ascertain the details," Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Qazi Khalilullah said.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is keen to
pursue the peace process, and has the backing of Pakistan and China, but the Taliban
leadership is divided over whether to take part.
After the initial round of talks, a statement made in Mullah Omar's name appeared to endorse the negotiations as legal under Islamic law. Opposing views on the peace process are tied in closely with a power struggle over who will be the new leader of the hardline Islamist movement that Omar founded.
A senior Afghan Taliban commander based in
neighboring Pakistan said the leadership of the movement was "at a crossroads", and resolving the succession issue may take time. He added that a faction within the Taliban
wanted Omar's son Yaqoob to take over, while
another favored the promotion of political leader Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, who has been among those who support peace talks.
On the battlefield, Helmand officials said the
Taliban had wrested control of the Now Zad
district on Wednesday after two days of fighting.
"Right now our security forces are still on the
outskirts of the district and fighting with the
Taliban," said provincial police chief spokesman Obaidullah Obaid. Obaid declined to comment on casualties, but residents of the area, speaking to Reuters by telephone, said bodies of security personnel and Taliban fighters were lying in the streets after the battle.
The Taliban confirmed the capture of the district center, saying weapons and ammunition had been seized.
Helmand has been a Taliban stronghold and
center of opium production for years. British and U.S. troops began a concerted effort to secure the province in 2006, and some of the
heaviest fighting of the war took place over
subsequent years in small towns like Now Zad,
most of them in the fertile Helmand river valley.
(Additional reporting by Abdul Malik in Lashkar
Gah and Mirwais Harooni and Jessica Donati in Kabul; Editing by Mike Collett-White)
By Kay Johnson
KABUL (Reuters) -
The Taliban's official spokesman disavowed peace talks with the Afghan government on Thursday, throwing fledgling efforts to negotiate an end to 14 years of war into disarray.
The statement came a day after the Afghan
government said that Mullah Omar, the elusive
supreme leader of the Islamist militant
movement, had died two years ago in
neighboring Pakistan.
News of Omar's demise is likely to intensify a
struggle within the deeply divided group to
succeed him, clouding chances of a peace
process that had already run into trouble. In a reminder of the threat posed by insurgents
stepping up their campaign to overthrow the
Western-backed government, the Taliban
captured a district in the southern province of
Helmand that foreign troops struggled to secure for years.
The Taliban has taken control of pockets of
territory across the country since NATO
withdrew most of its forces at the end of 2014,
leaving the Afghan army and police to quell the violence.
Thousands of people are killed each year. "We have heard from the news media that the
second round of talks between the Islamic
Emirate and the Kabul administration will start
soon in Pakistan or China," said Taliban
spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. "The Islamic Emirate has handed all authorization to its political office and they are not aware of this process," he added in a statement that did not refer to Omar.
The Taliban has yet to comment officially on his death.
Afghan and Pakistani officials had said that a
second round of meetings would be held
between Taliban representatives and the Kabul government this week. The two sides met for inaugural negotiations earlier this month in Pakistan.
POWER STRUGGLE
So far, neither the Taliban nor Pakistani officials have confirmed Afghanistan's declaration on Wednesday that Mullah Omar died two years ago in a hospital in the Pakistani city of Karachi.
"We are aware of the reports and trying to
ascertain the details," Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Qazi Khalilullah said.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is keen to
pursue the peace process, and has the backing of Pakistan and China, but the Taliban
leadership is divided over whether to take part.
After the initial round of talks, a statement made in Mullah Omar's name appeared to endorse the negotiations as legal under Islamic law. Opposing views on the peace process are tied in closely with a power struggle over who will be the new leader of the hardline Islamist movement that Omar founded.
A senior Afghan Taliban commander based in
neighboring Pakistan said the leadership of the movement was "at a crossroads", and resolving the succession issue may take time. He added that a faction within the Taliban
wanted Omar's son Yaqoob to take over, while
another favored the promotion of political leader Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, who has been among those who support peace talks.
On the battlefield, Helmand officials said the
Taliban had wrested control of the Now Zad
district on Wednesday after two days of fighting.
"Right now our security forces are still on the
outskirts of the district and fighting with the
Taliban," said provincial police chief spokesman Obaidullah Obaid. Obaid declined to comment on casualties, but residents of the area, speaking to Reuters by telephone, said bodies of security personnel and Taliban fighters were lying in the streets after the battle.
The Taliban confirmed the capture of the district center, saying weapons and ammunition had been seized.
Helmand has been a Taliban stronghold and
center of opium production for years. British and U.S. troops began a concerted effort to secure the province in 2006, and some of the
heaviest fighting of the war took place over
subsequent years in small towns like Now Zad,
most of them in the fertile Helmand river valley.
(Additional reporting by Abdul Malik in Lashkar
Gah and Mirwais Harooni and Jessica Donati in Kabul; Editing by Mike Collett-White)