Western media widely covers change in Taliban leadership

LAHORE: Following the death of Afghan Taliban Commander Mulla Akhtar Mansour in a US drone strike and consequent appointment of Maulvi Haibatullah Akhundzada as the new chief of the warring group, numerous prestigious Western media houses have shed light on the two developments.

Although not much is known about the Taliban-era Chief Justice Haibatullah Akhundzada, this religious cleric hailing from the Ishakzai tribe had come in media limelight for issuing prompt death decrees against convicted murderers and adulterers in Afghanistan.

Research shows that under Haibatullah’s orders, the limbs of thieves were amputated and people found guilty of lesser crimes were beaten up. It is imperative to note that there were almost weekly executions or amputations of criminals in the Kabul stadium before November 1999.

Here follows some selected excerpts from renowned American and British media outlets in this context: The Wall Street Journal reported: “The US spy agencies zeroed in on Mulla Akhtar Mansour while he was visiting his family in Iran, laying a trap when the Taliban leader crossed the border back into Pakistan. While US surveillance drones don’t operate in the area, intercepted communications and other types of intelligence allowed the spy agencies to track their target as he crossed the frontier on Saturday, got into a white Toyota Corolla and made his way by road through Pakistan’s Balochistan province, according to US officials briefed on the operation.

“Then, the US military took over. Operators waited for the right moment to send armed drones across the Afghan border to “fix” on the car and made sure no other vehicles were in the way so they could “finish” the target, the officials said, using the argot of drone killing—all before Mulla Mansour could reach the crowded city of Quetta, where a strike would have been more complicated. The ambush that killed Mulla Mansour marked a critical moment in Obama administration policy on Afghanistan, as it weighed a push for peace talks and a potential need for a military escalation. It also represented a message to Pakistan that the US would take action on Pakistani soil if necessary without advance warning.

“President Barack Obama secretly ordered the strike on Mulla Mansour after first trying to bring him to the negotiating table. Initially, there was hope in Washington that Mulla Mansour would be more open to negotiations than his predecessor, Mullah Mohammad Omar. Obama administration officials were divided over whether the Pakistanis were capable or willing to deliver Mulla Mansour for the negotiations. The US officials said the Pakistanis tried and grew frustrated in February by Mulla Mansour’s refusal to send representatives to meet with the Afghan government. Around the same time, people who maintain contacts with the Taliban began to report that Mulla Mansour had left Pakistan and was spending time in Iran. US intelligence agencies received information that allowed them to track Mulla Mansour’s movements, including details about devices he used for communications, US officials said.

“The US normally would want multiple drones to keep eyes on such an important target. Because CIA drones weren’t operating in the area, the US spy agencies relied on signals intelligence and other location information to track the Corolla’s journey, according to US officials. Armed drones based in Afghanistan and piloted by the U.S. military’s Joint Special Operations Command were preparing to move in for the kill, the officials said. The US knew Pakistani radar could detect the intrusion. Pakistan might then scramble jet fighters to intercept the drones, so timing was critical. The military’s Reaper drones crossed the border into Pakistani airspace, flying low over the mountains along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border to exploit gaps in radar coverage, the officials said.

“Officers in the US military command center overseeing the operation held off briefly because the vehicle pulled over near unidentified buildings, the officials said. It’s not clear why the stop was made. They waited until the car got back on the road and away from other vehicles and buildings. Then they launched the strike, and two Hellfire missiles took out Mulla Mansour, the officials said. The drones hovered overhead to ensure there were no survivors, and then headed back to Afghanistan, the officials said. The US government agencies involved in the operation agreed in advance that the strike would be disclosed publicly by the Pentagon once completed. The agreement also called for officials to be vague about identifying the location of the strike, and the Pentagon was instructed to announce that the strike took place along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. But US officials soon disclosed the location inside Pakistan.”

The CNN reported: “The Afghan Taliban's new leader is an educated and well-respected member of the organisation who could prove easier to negotiate a peace settlement with, a founding member of the group tells CNN. Haibatullah Akhundzada, named the new Afghan Taliban leader following the death of Mulla Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, is in his late 50s -- although the Taliban claim he is 47 years old -- and comes from Panjwai district of southern Kandahar province, according to Sayed Mohammad Akbar Agha. While he was involved in the mujahideen struggle against the Soviet invasion in the 1980s, Agha says the new leader is unlikely to have participated in front line military activities. He is principally known as a religious teacher and scholar among the Taliban.

“He did judicial work between 1996 and 2001, during the Taliban's ruling period in Afghanistan, and following the group's fall from power in late 2001 he worked as Taliban Chief Justice, according to Agha who lives in Kabul and says he knows the new leader. Analysts say his religious authority was likely decisive in his being elected leader and it was also to his advantage that his family comes from the Taliban heartland. He became then-leader Mulla Akhtar Mohammad Mansour's deputy when he succeeded Mulla Omar. He subsequently established himself as active in the day-to-day running of the movement, and played a key role in the negotiation of a ceasefire between the Taliban and a dissident faction earlier this year.”

The Newsweek wrote: “The drone strike is the first time that the United States has targeted a Taliban leader outside of Pakistan’s tribal border region. In 2011, U.S. special operations forces conducted an operation that resulted in the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani garrison city of Abbottabad. That operation precipitated a crisis in the United States’ relationship with Pakistan.”

The Telegraph reported: “Akhundzada is understood to run a madrassa - or religious school - and many of the Taliban soldiers consider him as both their teacher and religious adviser. He was said to have been chosen over two key rivals -Sirajuddin Haqqani and Maulvi Yakub - due to his religious background.

“The Taliban's appointment was decided at a secret meeting which began on Tuesday, the source added, where eleven of the group's most senior members from both Afghanistan and Pakistan consulted on their successor.”

The Voice of America reported: “Taliban sources identified Haibatullah Akhunzada as the former head of courts during the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan before 2001. Although the Taliban’s official communication channels announced Mulla Mansoor as the new leader, Taliban sources say his leadership is highly contested by some factions which instead favor Mullah Yaqoub, the eldest son of Mulla Omar. Akhundzada served as a judge during the Taliban regime. After the group fell in 2001, he was made shadow chief justice and has issued religious edicts or "fatwas" justifying terrorist operations.”