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        Reported Death of Mullah Omar Throws Afghan Peace Talks in Doubt

   by Ayaz Gul

   The Afghan government's claim that fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar
   died two years ago has cast serious doubt on whether the next round of
   peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban will go forward.

   On Thursday an emailed statement from Taliban spokesman Zabiullah
   Mujahid said that the group's political office in Doha, Qatar is
   unaware of any legitimate peace talks in Pakistan or China.

   The next round of highly-anticipated talks was expected to start this
   week in Pakistan and include discussion of a possible Taliban ceasefire
   deal, following the encouraging first round in early July.

   In a statement released Wednesday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said,
   "The government of Afghanistan believes that grounds for the Afghan
   peace talks are more paved now than before, and thus calls on all armed
   opposition groups to seize the opportunity and join the peace process."

   However Mullah Omar's reported death leaves no obvious leader to
   represent an insurgent movement that has long been prone to factional
   infighting.

   The Taliban has not confirmed his death. Statements attributed to two
   Taliban spokesmen on Wednesday, Zabiullah Mujahid and Qari Muhammad
   Yousuf, both flatly denied that the one-eyed guerilla commander was
   dead.

   Dead in 2013?

   Afghan government officials said Wednesday that Mullah Omar died in
   2013 in Pakistan.

   "He was very sick in a Karachi hospital and died suspiciously there,"
   Abdul Hassib Seddiqi, the spokesman for Afghanistan's main intelligence
   agency, the National Directorate of Security, said. He did not explain
   what was suspicious about the death, or say how long his agency had
   possessed information about Omar's fate.

   President Ashraf Ghani's office also said Omar died in 2013.

   In Washington, the White House said the reports of Omar's death
   appeared credible and that U.S. intelligence authorities are looking
   into the circumstances of his death.

   Mullah Omar had made no public appearances nor presented direct
   evidence he is alive for at least five years. Previous reports of his
   death that appeared in news media in the region never gained wide
   circulation.

   The most recent Taliban message said to be from Mullah Omar,
   distributed earlier this month, endorsed the Afghan peace talks as
   "legitimate" in terms of Islamic principles. The reclusive cleric was
   quoted as saying he would not oppose peaceful negotiations if they
   could help end "U.S.-led foreign occupation" of Afghanistan and
   establish an Islamic system of government in the country.

   Mullah Omar led the Taliban when U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan in
   2001 after the September 11 terrorist attacks against the United
   States. The Taliban supported al-Qaida and sheltered its leader at the
   time, Osama bin Laden, who took credit for planning the attack by
   hijacked airliners that killed nearly 3,000 people in the U.S.

   In the aftermath of the 2001 attacks the U.S. government offered large
   rewards for the capture of many al-Qaida and Taliban leaders. A $10
   million bounty was offered for Mullah Omar.

   Omar had been the supreme commander and spiritual leader of Afghanistan
   since 1996. After fleeing into Pakistan, he dropped out of sight after
   the U.S. invasion that followed the 2001 attacks on New York and
   Washington.
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   afghan-peace-talks-in-doubt/2886550.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/reported-death-of-mullah-omar-throws-afghan-peace-talks-in-doubt/2886550.html