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KABUL: An Afghan Taliban spokesperson on Sunday dismissed a report that the group’s elusive supreme leader, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, was killed in an explosion in Pakistan.
“This report is totally false and far from reality … We reject this report … the enemy is under pressure and is trying to create concern by spreading such rumors,” said Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesperson. Taliban, by phone to Arab News. location.
Prominent Afghan daily Hashte Subh, citing unnamed sources, reported on Sunday that the explosion occurred at a safe house in Quetta, Baluchistan province, southwest Pakistan, a few months ago.
“Credible sources in Quetta told Hashte Subh that Hibatullah Akhundzada, as well as Matitullah, the intelligence chief, and Hafiz Abdul Majid, the group’s finance chief, were killed by the explosion in Quetta,” according to reports. extracts from reports.
The group is said to be operating from Quetta after it was ousted in a US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Mujahid rejected another report claiming Akhundzada’s death a few months ago.
“Our leaders in Pakistan are not either and such incidents cannot be hidden either. The enemy is under great pressure and every day comes up with new propaganda, ”he said, referring in part to the government in Kabul.
Akhundzada, 60, took over from Mullah Akhtar Mansour in May 2016 after Mansour was killed in a US drone strike on his vehicle near Quetta.
Mansour replaced Mullah Mohammad Omar, the founder of the Taliban movement, in 2015 after Afghan government officials revealed that Omar died in a Pakistani hospital in 2013. The Taliban kept Omar’s death a secret for nearly two years.
Recognized as an uncompromising religious scholar, Akhundzada’s whereabouts have been kept secret even from Taliban field commanders for several years, for security reasons.
Last August, an explosion in a mosque in Quetta – which the press said was frequented by Akhundzada – resulted in the death of his brother Ahmadullah. Her son was seriously injured in the attack.
Akhundzada was reportedly absent from the mosque at the time of the incident which coincided with the start of crucial intra-Afghan peace talks in Qatar as part of a landmark deal signed between the Taliban and Washington in February last year .
Rumors of his foretold death have been circulating in Afghan circles for some time, especially as no statement or audio recording from Akhundzada in recent months explicitly commenting on Qatar’s talks and subsequent developments.
Haji Agha Lalai, a member of the provincial council of Afghanistan’s Kandahar province – often referred to as the “cradle” of the Taliban and its seat of power – told Arab News that Akhundzada was not available for meetings in recent months as well. .
“Some people who wanted to see Akhundzada a few months ago couldn’t do it and instead a message attributed to him was read to them,” he said.
A senior Afghan security official in Kabul, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, told Arab News he heard that Akhundzada was killed in the summer last, but he could neither confirm nor deny it.
News of Akhundzada’s announced death comes amid a pause in intra-Afghan talks and a review of the terms of the Doha deal by the new US administration.
In the deal, all US-led foreign troops are expected to withdraw from Afghanistan by May 1.
While the government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has insisted the troops stay and some NATO countries have also been pushing for this, the deal may not see the light of day until the Taliban agree to announce a ceasefire with Kabul.
NATO members are expected to meet later this week to discuss whether or not to keep troops in Afghanistan.
The Taliban, for their part, have repeatedly urged Washington to honor the deal signed by President Donald Trump’s administration.
“Our message to the next NATO ministerial meeting is that the continuation of the occupation and the war is neither in your interest nor in the interest of our people and yours,” the Taliban said in a statement. press release published on Saturday.
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