Mullah Omar’s death

At last, the death has been confirmed by the Taliban themselves. The life of Mullah Omar, who led the Taliban after they seized power in Kabul in 1996, was lived in secrecy. Very few saw him, and images of the one-eyed leader are extremely rare. His death appears to have been just as mysterious. Afghan authorities had said that Mullah Omar, who had fled to a secret location after the 2001 invasion of Kabul and then continued to lead the Taliban from his place of hiding, died in April 2013 at a Karachi hospital. The Taliban have clarified that he died in Afghanistan. Mullah Omar had not been seen in public since 2001, with both the US and Afghanistan claiming many times that he was hiding in Pakistan. Pakistan had always denied that Mullah Omar was based on its soil. The man who had established close links with Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda after fighting alongside them following the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan may then have slipped away into the pages of history. The history he has left behind is brutal. The reign of the Taliban in Afghanistan was full of many horrors including severe discrimination against and brutal killing of Hazaras and other minority groups and the infamous destruction of the historical statues of the Buddha at Bamiyan. Mullah Omar’s exit from Kabul was welcome by many. His entry had been welcomed as well with many hoping the Taliban could bring calm to a chaotic, civil war torn Afghanistan.
The Taliban’s two main councils in Quetta and Peshawar had been in talks to agree on a new leader to replace Mullah Omar. The question that remains is what impact the death of Mullah Omar will have on the Taliban and both Afghanistan and Pakistan. The news of his death comes just days before an Afghan government delegation was due to meet Afghan Taliban leaders in Pakistan. This would have been the second round of talks between the two parties. The first round had taken place some weeks ago and had been followed by a statement apparently released by Mullah Omar in which he had welcomed the development. Even at that time the authenticity of the statement had been questioned within Taliban ranks. This indicated a broader struggle for leadership taking place within the organisation. The talks have stopped for now at least and a statement from the Taliban has declared that the talks were not official as only the Taliban’s Qatar office is allowed to pursue political affairs. Most analysts believe that Mullah Omar’s death is a serious blow to the Afghan Taliban. However, if Omar has been dead for two years, an alternate command and control centre should already be in place. This structure has not been able to prevent the defection of several Taliban commanders to the Islamic State, which is a process that may now be accelerated with new reports of their supreme commander’s death. Some reports indicate that the Taliban shuras have elected Mullah Akhtar Mansoor as their new leader while Sirajuddin Haqqani has been elected his deputy. Mullah Omar’s son Mohammad Yaqoob and Mullah Mansoor are both contenders and are backed by various factions of the militant force. Yaqoob’s group is thought to oppose dialogue with the government. What remains to be seen is whether the Taliban factions unite under the new leadership and what position the organisation takes on the ongoing talks process. The outcome of this conflict will then be significant and it may rage harder in the coming days.