Afghanistan, May 25, 2016 – The Taliban, a radical Islamic group in Afghanistan has named Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada as its new leader.
The announcement came few days after President Barack Obama of the US confirmed that its leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansur has been killed.
“Haibatullah Akhundzada has been appointed as the new leader of the Islamic Emirate (Taliban) after a unanimous agreement in the shura (supreme council), and all the members of shura pledged allegiance to him,” the Taliban said in a statement, adding that Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, son of Mullah Omar, would become a joint deputy head of the movement, alongside current deputy leader Sirajuddin Haqqani.
The Taliban said the new appointment was unanimous. Mansur was killed via a US drone strike on his car in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on Saturday.
In a statement, the Taliban for the first time acknowledged the death of their leader and named successor in the person of Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada.
Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, a religious scholar and former head of the Taliban courts, was until this moment a deputy leader to the late Mansour.
