New Taliban Chief Akhundzada is a Scholar, Not a Soldier

This photo purports to show the remains of the vehicle in which Mullah Mohammad Akhtar Mansoor was travelling in Pakistan’s Balochistan province near the border with Afghanistan, 22 May 2016. (Photo: AP)

• The Afghan Taliban appointed Haibatullah Akhunzada as their new leader, and confirmed the death of their former leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, in a US drone strike last week, according to a statement released by the insurgency group.
  
  
• Haibatullah is a former head of the Taliban’s judiciary and was deputy to Mansoor.
  
  
• Sirajuddin Haqqani, head of a network blamed for many high-profile bombs attacks in Kabul in recent years, and Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, son of former leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, will serve as deputies, the statement said.
  

(With inputs from Reuters.)