Daily Times

The Taliban supreme leader Sheikh Hibatullah Akhundzada’s decision to appoint Mullah Yaqoob, elder son of Mullah Omar, as head of the military commission, is aimed at further strengthening his hold on all affairs ahead of the key negotiations between the Taliban and Afghan political leaders, a senior Taliban leader said.

The Taliban leader said members of the powerful “Rehbari Shura” or leadership council is also discussing a suggestion to form a new team for the intra-Afghan dialogue.

“There was a proposal to constitute a new negotiation team comprised members of the ‘rehbari shura’ that will be under the direct supervision of the ‘amir-ul-mineen’ (commander of the faithful) Sheikh Hibatullah Akhundzada,” he said.

He said there is another proposal to induct new people into the negotiation team. The idea behind the proposal is that the team should be out of the influence of anyone.

“No final decision has yet been taken and the proposal is expected to be discussed in a meeting in the coming days,” said the Taliban leader, who did not want to be identified.

The Taliban chief removed four members from the negotiation team Amir Khan Mutaqi, Maulvi Jan Muhammad Madani, Zia ur Rahman Madani and Sheikh Sayed Rasool and five members of the Qatar office Dr Saleh, Munir Sadaat, Jehangirwal, Abid abd Qazi Saida Jan.

Mohammad Qasim, a leadership council member, has been inducted into the negotiation team to replace Mutaqi, who has already left Qatar.

The Taliban leader said the leadership council in a meeting in Ramazan had favoured the start of the intra-Afghan dialogue if the US keeps on taking steps for the implementation of the agreement that includes completion of the process of the release of 5000 Taliban prisoners.

The Taliban chief had sought opinion from the religious scholars within the Taliban movement about the start of the intra-Afghan dialogue and they ruled in favour of the talks.

Akhunzada’s decision to appoint Yaqoob last month surprised the shura members, who were not informed before the decision.

The Taliban chief usually consults the members of the leadership council, the high level decision-making body, on all decisions, he said.

“Yaqoob later visited the shura members to formally inform them about his appointment and to seek their cooperation,” said the Taliban leader, who was privy to the development.

He said Yaqoob’s appointment was a move to “stop the unauthorized contacts” by a senior Taliban leader with some of the military commanders

“Another meeting of the shura will decide the agenda for the intra-Afghan dialogue that is expected to be held soon,” the Taliban leader said.

The talks were scheduled to start on March 10 but Taliban refused to join the process unless the Afghan government released 5000 Taliban prisoners.

The Taliban-US agreement signed in February says up to 5,000 prisoners of the Taliban and up to 1,000 prisoners of the Afghan government will be released by March 10, the first day of the intra-Afghan dialogue.

Afghan government has released 3000 Taliban prisoners, according to Javid Faisal, spokesperson for the Office of the National Security Council.

President Ashraf Ghani announced last week 2000 more Taliban will be released soon that will complete the process of the release of 5000 Taliban prisoners that was part of the US-Taliban landmark deal. He urged the Taliban to release the government prisoners under their custody.

The Taliban have so far released over 500 government’s prisoners.

Afghan government has announced a 21-member team in March to negotiate with the Taliban that will be headed by a former National Directorate of Security chief Masoom Stanekzai.

Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, who is Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, will supervise the whole peace process with the Taliban.

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen has said in reported remarks that the intra-Afghan dialogue will start in Qatar, however, two Taliban leaders told Daily Times that no decision about the venue of the negotiations has been made. They said no date has yet been decided for the negotiations and reports suggest they could start later this month.