Taliban still bent on violence despite new leadership: Obama

ISE-SHIMA, Japan — Hopes of negotiating peace with the Afghan Taliban’s new leader were swiftly fading from all sides on Thursday, as US President Barack Obama warned the extremist movement will continue killing in Afghanistan. Obama said in Japan, where he is meeting with other leaders of the Group of Seven nations, that he doubted the insurgents would come to the table “anytime soon.” “We anticipate the Taliban will continue an agenda of violence,” he said. Obama was speaking the day after the militants named Haibatullah Akhundzada as their new leader, elevating a low-profile religious figure in a swift power transition after the death of Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a US drone strike. Analysts have said it is unclear if Akhundzada, who faces the enormous challenge of unifying the increasingly fragmented militant movement, will emulate his former boss in shunning peace talks with the Afghan government. But the US killing of Mansour showed that Washington has at least for now abandoned hopes of reviving the direct peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban, which broke down for the first time last summer. Obama acknowledged that he was never going to find a willing negotiating partner at the helm of the extremist group. “I was not expecting a liberal democrat to be appointed,” he said. “My hope, although not my expectation, is that there comes a point where the Taliban realize what they need to be doing” and start getting into a dialogue with the government, he said. “I am doubtful that it will be happening anytime soon.” The Taliban has made no official statement on the future of peace negotiations since announcing Akhundzada’s leadership. But Obama’s comments were reinforced by a senior Taliban source speaking to AFP in Pakistan, where Mansour was killed in the strike Saturday, who said there would be no shift in the militants’ stance. “We consider NATO and the US troops as invaders and our resistance movement will continue,” the source said Wednesday, after Akhundzada’s leadership was announced. “The drone strike against (Mansour) has proved that the US is not sincere in bringing peace in Afghanistan, so peace talks at any level will remain suspended till the new decision by the leadership council.” In Afghanistan, an official with the High Peace Council was cautious on the future of talks, saying Akhundzada “may not be interested in political dialogue at least in the short term” but vowing the council will continue its “endeavors for peace.” President Ashraf Ghani was more hawkish, tweeting Thursday: “Taliban groups have yet another chance to end violence/lay their arms & start normal life. Or they’ll face the same fate as their leadership.” Analysts have said that even if he favors peace talks, Akhundzada — seen by some as a symbolic rather than functional leader — would be unlikely to proceed without consensus from his supreme council. Mansour’s killing marked a significant shift for Washington, highlighting a new willingness to target Taliban leaders in Pakistan and risk retaliatory attacks against struggling Afghan security forces. It sent shock waves through the insurgent movement, which had seen a resurgence under Mansour. He was killed just nine months after being formally appointed leader following a bitter power struggle upon confirmation of founder Mullah Omar’s death. Omar died in 2013, but his death was kept secret for two years, with Mansour issuing statements in his name — a revelation that helped fuel internal opposition and splintered the group into rival factions, shattering the nascent peace process that had begun last summer. Before his killing, Mansour had written a will handpicking Akhundzada to be his successor, Taliban sources said, in an apparent bid to lend legitimacy to his appointment.