No talks with divided Taliban factions: Afghan president

KABUL: The Afghan government said it would not negotiate with the divided factions of the Taliban as the insurgents were facing differences over leadership succession and also said a parallel political structure would not be accepted in any manner.
The administration “will negotiate with them under the same title” of “armed anti-government militants,” President Ashraf Ghani’s office said in a statement late on Sunday issued to print and electronic media.
A second round of talks was set for Friday, but postponed after the news of the death of Taliban leader Mulla Omar broke.The movement declared Mulla Omar’s successor to be former deputy leader Mulla Akhtar Mansour. But the late leader’s family declined to pledge allegiance, requesting instead that the next chairperson be chosen by Islamic scholars and group elders.
Mulla Mansour did not have the support of the group’s wider membership, said Mulla Abdul Manan, the youngest brother of Mulla Omar. in an audio message emailed to the media on Sunday.
“We want the Ulema to resolve the internal differences instead of taking sides,” he said, referring to a group of Muslim scholars.The government also warned it “will stand... against any parallel political structure in the country”.
The Taliban have established provincial shadow administrations, and earlier talks broke down when the group’s office in Qatar was perceived as taking on the character of a diplomatic mission.
Mansour was the aviation minister when the Taliban ruled the country, and he had been acting as Taliban deputy leader for four years.Two Taliban sources said that Mansour had been approved by the Taliban’s leadership council as the next emir, but some within the council and many of the wider membership opposed the move.