Influencial Pakistani Clerics Back Mansoor as Taliban Head

Maulana Sami-ul Haq has endorsed Mansoor’s appointment as the head of Taliban and asked Afghan Taliban to join.

New Taliban chief Mullah Mansoor. (Photo: 

An influential Pakistani cleric has endorsed Mullah Akhtar Mansoor’s appointment as the head of Taliban after Mullah Omar’s reported death.

Former Afghan Taliban head Mullah Omar, now reported dead. (Photo: Reuters)

An allegiance pledge was made at a year-end function presided over by Maulana Sami-ul Haq, known as the ‘Father of the Taliban’ and the chief of his faction – Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam – at the Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Haqqania.

The late Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar is said to have graduated from the religious seminary along with several top cadres of the Afghan Taliban.

In their speeches, Haq and another cleric Maulana Anwarul Haq asked Afghan Ulema (religious scholars)and people for support to Mansour and protect Pakistan against international conspiracies.

Opposition to Mansoor’s Appointment

Pakistani and Afghan Ulema associated with Darul Uloom Haqqania in Akora Khattak, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, have sworn allegiance to Mullah Mansoor whose election has ostensibly fragmented the Afghan Taliban, The Express Tribune reported.

Some top leaders, including Mullah Omar’s son and brother, have refused to pledge allegiance to Mansoor.

Tayeb Agha, the head of the Qatar political office set up in 2013 to facilitate talks with Kabul, also resigned on Monday in protest over Mansoor’s appointment.

Former diplomat Aziz Rehman and Mawlavi Nek Mohammad, who served as a deputy minister during Taliban rule, have also stepped down.