Afghan Taliban appoint Haibatullah Akhundzada as new leader after Mansour’s death

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Taliban new leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada is seen in an undated photograph, posted on a Taliban twitter feed on May 25, 2016, and identified separately by several Taliban officials, who declined be named. Photo: Reuters

Published: 2:09pm, 25 May 2016Updated: 7:38pm, 25 May 2016

The Afghan Taliban confirmed on Wednesday that their former leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a US drone strike last week and that they have appointed a successor.

In a statement sent to media, the insurgent group said its new leader is Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, one of two of Mansour’s deputies. It said he was chosen at a meeting of Taliban leaders, which was believed to have been held in Pakistan.

Mansour was killed in Pakistan on Saturday when his vehicle was struck by a US drone, an attack that is believed to be the first time a Taliban leader was killed in such a way inside Pakistani territory.

Taliban leader Mullah Mansour was killed because he posed an ‘imminent threat’, Pentagon says

Pakistani authorities are believed to have given shelter and support to some Taliban leaders over the Afghan border. The insurgents have been fighting to overthrow the Kabul government since 2001, when their own Islamist regime was overthrown by the US invasion.

The US and Afghan governments said Mansour had been an obstacle to a peace process that had ground to a halt when he refused to participate in peace talks earlier this year. Instead, he intensified the war in Afghanistan, now in its 15th year.