KABUL: A senior Afghan Taliban figure said the death of their leader in a US drone strike last week could make the movement stronger and unify their ranks.
Mullah Mohammad Ghous, a foreign minister during the Taliban’s 1996-2001 rule of Afghanistan, says Mullah Akhtar Mansour’s death clears the way for those who left after he became leader to return to the insurgency.
Pakistan's interior minister said on Tuesday he could not confirm that Mansour had been killed in a US strike, saying that the body recovered from near the Afghan border was charred beyond recognition.
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told reporters that DNA samples had been collected from the remains and would be tested against a relative who came forward to claim the body.
"The government of Pakistan cannot announce this without a scientific and legal basis," he said.
But still, Afghan Taliban are struggling to find a successor to Mansour. Mullah Yakoub, the Taliban founder’s son, and Sirajuddin Haqqani, an implacable foe of US forces, were seen as the two frontrunners for the job.
“Yakoub has refused to accept the role, saying he is too young for it,” a senior Taliban source in northwest Pakistan told AFP.
“Mansour’s deputy and operational head of the Haqqani network, Sirajuddin Haqqani, has also refused due to personal reasons.”
That development will complicate the job of the Taliban’s supreme council, which has been holding emergency meetings since Sunday at an undisclosed location in Pakistan to find a unifying figure for the leadership post.
The insurgents have yet to officially confirm the death of Mansour, which has thrown the deeply factionalized Taliban into disarray nine months after he was elevated to the Taliban leadership following a bitter power struggle.
“The main challenge is to save the Taliban movement from being further divided,” another Taliban source told AFP, adding that supreme council members were constantly changing the venue of their meetings to avoid potential air strikes.
“It will take time to reach a consensus for the leadership position.”
Other candidates in the fray include Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the movement’s former deputy who is said to be close to the Pakistani military establishment.
Death of Taliban leader ‘could unify group’
Death of Taliban leader ‘could unify group’
G.Bissau opposition leader summoned by military court: sources
- Domingos Simoes Pereira, leader of the PAIGC party, which led the coastal west African country to independence from Portugal in 1974, was arrested on the day of the November coup
BISSAU: Guinea-Bissau’s main opposition leader has been summoned to appear before a military court over alleged links to multiple coup plots, judicial and military sources told AFP.
The junta has imprisoned senior politicians after overthrowing president Umaro Sissoco Embalo and seizing power in November, just days after presidential elections.
Domingos Simoes Pereira, leader of the PAIGC party, which led the coastal west African country to independence from Portugal in 1974, was arrested on the day of the November coup.
SPEEDREAD
• Domingos Simoes Pereira is suspected of involvement in at least two attempted coups, in late 2023 and October 2025, a source said.
• Guinea-Bissau has experienced five coups and a string of attempted military takeovers since independence.
• Crippling poverty, chaotic administration and political chaos have also made Guinea-Bissau a fertile ground for corruption.
He was freed late last month but was placed under house arrest because of separate investigations into alleged financial crimes.
He will be questioned on Friday for his “alleged involvement in a coup attempt,” a source close to the military court told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“There are a lot of suspicions hanging over him regarding his alleged involvement in several subversive actions,” a senior officer said.
Pereira is suspected of involvement in at least two attempted coups, in late 2023 and October 2025, the same source added.
Guinea-Bissau has experienced five coups and a string of attempted military takeovers since independence.
Crippling poverty, chaotic administration and political chaos have also made Guinea-Bissau a fertile ground for corruption and drug smuggling.
