Mullah Omar’s son and brother, both who previously opposed the appointment of Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour to serve as the new leader of the Taliban, have changed their minds and sworn allegiance to Mansour, according to the Taliban.
The jihadist group released an Arabic-language statement on Voice of Jihad, its official propaganda website, claiming that Mullah Abdul Manan Akhund, a brother of Mullah Omar, and Mullah Mohammad Yaqoub, Omar’s eldest son, had sworn allegiance to Mansour after meeting with the new Taliban emir. The meeting “was attended by a large number of sheikhs and scholars valued and senior Islamic Emirate officials,” according to the statement.
Mullah Manan and Mullah Yacoob called on all Muslims and “all the mujahideen brothers … especially those who delayed the oath of allegiance [to Mansour] because of delay allegiance of our family” to swear fealty to the group’s new emir.
Manan and Yacoub’s pledge to Mansour closes a major rift that existed within the Afghan Taliban after Omar’s death was announced on July 31. Omar died at a hospital in Karachi in April 2013, and the Taliban and Omar’s family concealed his death as they feared it would cause divisions at a crucial time, when US forces began to withdraw from Afghanistan.
Reports from the region indicated that Manan and Yacoub initially did not approve of the way that Mansour was chosen to lead the Taliban.
“I stand with my nephew [Yacoub],” Manan said immediately after Omar’s death was announced, according to CBS News. “There should be a (grand council) so everyone has a chance to choose their own leader. I do not accept this selection of Mullah Akhtar Mansoor because only a few chose him.”
Yacoub is rumored to have sought to replace his father as the emir of the group.
The Taliban’s announcement that Manan and Yacoub have now accepted Mansour’s leadership took place just two days after a Yacoub released an audiotape where he discussed his father’s death and his position on the leadership dispute.
Yacoub confirmed that his family was aware of Omar’s death and was complicit in hiding it from the Taliban and the world. He also denied rumors that Omar was assassinated, and said he died of natural causes.
“I wanted to assure you that he died a natural death,” Yacoub said, according to Dawn. “We made enquiries from the doctors, it seems he was suffering from HCV [Hepatitis C].”
Had Yacoub attempted to continue his dispute with Mansour, he may not have actively sought to dispel rumors that Omar was assassinated.
In what is perceived by some to be a slight to Mansour, Yacoub also said that his father “had not appointed any one as his successor.” But the Taliban do not allow their leader to choose his successor. The emir of the group is instead chosen by the Quetta Shura, the Taliban’s top leadership council. According to the Taliban, the shura met and chose Mansour.
Yacoub also hinted in the Sept. 13 audiotape that he was prepared to reconcile with Mansour and the Taliban leadership.
“If unity can return with my death, I am willing to carry out suicide,” or a suicide attack, he said. “We are ready for whatever order the council gives us. We are ready to work in any capacity, whether on a high level or a lower level.”
With Mullah Omar’s family back in the fold, the main challenge to Mansour’s leadership comes from Mullah Mansour Dadullah, the military commander who was expelled from the Taliban by Omar in late 2008. Dadullah is holed up in Zabul province and has been besieged by the Taliban. The Islamic State, which is attempting to recruit disaffected Taliban commanders, is said to be courting Dadullah.
3 Comments
“Hepatitis C!” Sounds like ole Mullah Omar was sharin dirty needles along with the rest of his Taliban & AQ dope fiends. Sounds like Omar’s brother & his son are content with their ‘cut’ from the opium/heroin proceeds so on with the War. I look forward to the Omars being hunted down & assassinated. Seeing how they’re most likely well ensconced & living in luxury somewhere in one of the compounds in the vicinity of Quetta, Karachi, & some ISI ‘safe house’ in Pakistan the assassins most likely will be insiders. If the Fumblelina’s in the Intelligence Community had any idea of how to sow divisions & dissent among the rank & file & their field commanders with the Taliban AQ hierarchy they’d put together some surveillance video’s showing the hierarchy living it up luxury & disseminating them for all those peons out in the field or livin in the mud huts on some rocky hill/mountainside eking out a living.
boisterous bluffing aside, Hep C is a blood borne illness and, in this context, most likely came with a battlefield blood transfusion and not sharing dirty needles
@ RanaSahib
“…boisterous bluffing aside…,” Hep C in Developed Countries is spread over 60% of the time via “shared needles” via intravenous drug users, 15% or more of the time through sexual activity primarily through homosexual ‘encounters’ with “Blood Transfusions” responsible for 10% or less of Hep C Cases. In ‘Less’ Developed Nations, while the collected data & or ratio’s are not as precise due to the obvious reasons, the same ratio’s exist with “shared needles” & sexual practices skewing on the side of > numbers.
There is nothing at all “boisterous” or “bluffing” on my empirical determinations as to the demise of the degenerate so called ‘Commander of the Faithful.’ First ‘it’ was brought to light that Omar died in 2015 at some locale(hospital?) in Karachi Pakistan. Then this fiction was quickly revised Calendaring Omar’s death of having taken place in 2013 at the same general locale supposedly succumbing to the ravages of Tuberculosis. Now the TB cause of death gets ‘elbowed’ aside for the Hepatitis C narrative & its caustic effects resulting in a failed Liver. Karachi makes sense because of the Binori Mosque & access to Medical treatment/facilities. Plus its easier to hide Omar there rather than in Quetta or surrounding areas. Then the Public had their suspicion’s further buttressed by those close enough to Mullah Omar to put them in positions of “in the know” to claim that Omar was murdered by his own inner circle. Which now appears to have included one his brothers & one of his sons. Over the last few days another fiction has been posited placing Afghanistan as the locale of his hospice & demise.
Now that Hep C has been added to the ailments afflicting the deranged Omar it has become obvious that he succumbed to HIV/AIDs. For those who seek to manage Omar’s myth otherwise one need only to peruse Omar’s own edict(s) chastising his Faithful for engaging in Pedophilia & exhorting them to refrain from such deviant aberrations. That homosexual behavior & Pedohilia is rampant among the males from this geographical region is well documented. That the US Military constantly sought to hide or down play this Cultural anomaly is also well documented.
There is nothing at all “boisterous” or “bluffing” to what I’ve ‘posted.’ Whats “boisterous bluffing” is any & all who seek ‘ways’ to cover for the monstrous savagely evil behavior & actions on the part of Mullah & any & all who are in the least bit remotely associated with such actions & behaviors. The only 5 Truths/Facts/Evidence to date are that: 1)Mullah Omar died, 2)he died in Karachi or in its immediate vicinity, 3)he died in 2013, 4) he died of ailments blood related consistent with HIV/AIDs, 5)just about all those close to this event are lying