Afghan Taliban announce successor to Mullah Mansour

Source: BBC

The Afghan Taliban have announced a new leader to replace Mullah Akhtar Mansour who was killed in a US drone strike.

In a statement, the Taliban acknowledged Mansour's death for the first time and named his successor as Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada.
Little is known of the direction he will take the militants but analysts say he is an uncontroversial choice.
Last year the Taliban were plunged into turmoil when Mansour replaced the group's founder Mullah Mohammad Omar.
Mansour was killed in a strike on his car in Pakistan's Balochistan province on Saturday. The US and Afghan governments said he was an obstacle to the thorny peace process between the Taliban and the Afghan authorities. Indeed under his stewardship militant attacks escalated and became more daring.

What we know about Haibatullah Akhundzada

• He is more of a religious leader than a military commander, and has been responsible for issuing most of the Taliban's fatwas
• He is between 45 and 50 years of age and has lived most of his life inside Afghanistan, with little evidence of travel
• However, experts say, he maintained close links with the so-called Quetta Shura, the Afghan Taliban leaders said to be based in the Pakistani city of Quetta
• From southern Kandahar Province, he belongs to the Eshaqzai clan, though some sources say he is from the Alokozai Pashtun clan

"Haibatullah Akhundzada has been appointed as the new leader of the Islamic Emirate (Taliban) after a unanimous agreement in the shura (supreme council), and all the members of shura pledged allegiance to him," the Taliban said in a statement.
It also said that Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, son of Mullah Omar, would become a joint deputy head of the movement, alongside current deputy leader Sirajuddin Haqqani.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is much more well known, is leader of the Haqqani network which has been blamed for some of the most violent attacks inside Afghanistan. The group is known for its daring raids on Western and Afghan targets, particularly in Kabul.

In 2015 the Taliban was deeply divided over the selection of Mullah Mansour as the new leader.
But the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Kabul says the appointment of Haibatullah Akhundzada appears to be uncontroversial. The fact that he comes from the traditional Taliban stronghold of Kandahar is likely to please rank-and-file fighters.
Separately on Wednesday, 10 people were killed and four injured in a suicide attack that hit a bus carrying court employees in Kabul, government officials told the BBC.