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| Conflicting Reports on Taliban Leader’s Status Highlight Fraying Unity | Conflicting Reports on Taliban Leader’s Status Highlight Fraying Unity |
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| KABUL, Afghanistan — A day after reports began surfacing that the Taliban’s supreme leader may have been wounded or killed in a dispute, a scramble by the insurgents to deny the reports again illuminated the group’s fraying unity and recent history of lying about their leaders’ health. | |
| Afghan government officials claimed on Wednesday that the Taliban leader, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, had been shot in a tense meeting of his commanders in the suburbs of the Pakistani city of Quetta. Those claims could not be independently verified, and the government has gotten such reports wrong before. But the news came from as high a source as the Afghan chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah, whose official Twitter account on Thursday announced that Mullah Mansour had been “injured in a firefight in the vicinity of Quetta, Pakistan, two days ago.” | Afghan government officials claimed on Wednesday that the Taliban leader, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, had been shot in a tense meeting of his commanders in the suburbs of the Pakistani city of Quetta. Those claims could not be independently verified, and the government has gotten such reports wrong before. But the news came from as high a source as the Afghan chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah, whose official Twitter account on Thursday announced that Mullah Mansour had been “injured in a firefight in the vicinity of Quetta, Pakistan, two days ago.” |
| In an effort to still the speculation, the Taliban attacked the report on multiple fronts. The group’s spokesman rejected the claim as a baseless fabrication of “enemy intelligence apparatus.” | |
| Other insurgent sources in Quetta said Mullah Mansour was not in the area, and that they had heard nothing of such an episode. | Other insurgent sources in Quetta said Mullah Mansour was not in the area, and that they had heard nothing of such an episode. |
| And in the most extraordinary step, the Taliban released an audiotape from the man in whose house Mullah Mansour was supposedly shot, denying it had happened. But then questions were quickly raised about whether the voice was really his, and many asked why the Taliban had not just released a recording of Mullah Mansour himself denying the claim. | And in the most extraordinary step, the Taliban released an audiotape from the man in whose house Mullah Mansour was supposedly shot, denying it had happened. But then questions were quickly raised about whether the voice was really his, and many asked why the Taliban had not just released a recording of Mullah Mansour himself denying the claim. |
| While tensions in the insurgents’ ranks have been building for months now, the strains reportedly worsened after reports that Taliban fighters last month killed a former commander, Mullah Mansour Dadullah, who had left the Taliban and reportedly aligned himself with a group claiming loyalty to the Islamic State. | While tensions in the insurgents’ ranks have been building for months now, the strains reportedly worsened after reports that Taliban fighters last month killed a former commander, Mullah Mansour Dadullah, who had left the Taliban and reportedly aligned himself with a group claiming loyalty to the Islamic State. |
| Taliban clerics and fighters have been openly questioning Mullah Mansour’s mandate to deploy fighters to kill fellow Taliban, with whom they once studied and fought, a senior Afghan security official briefed on intelligence matters said. | Taliban clerics and fighters have been openly questioning Mullah Mansour’s mandate to deploy fighters to kill fellow Taliban, with whom they once studied and fought, a senior Afghan security official briefed on intelligence matters said. |
| But analysts, while not ruling out the possibility of the shooting because of the rising tensions, said initial details were contradictory at best. | But analysts, while not ruling out the possibility of the shooting because of the rising tensions, said initial details were contradictory at best. |
| “Anywhere Mansour, the highest leader of the Taliban, goes to a meeting, one would think not everyone would remain armed — just Mansour’s bodyguards,” said Borhan Osman, a researcher with the Afghanistan Analysts Network who has written extensively about the Taliban. “Especially considering that such shootings have happened in their meetings before, though not at such a senior level.” | “Anywhere Mansour, the highest leader of the Taliban, goes to a meeting, one would think not everyone would remain armed — just Mansour’s bodyguards,” said Borhan Osman, a researcher with the Afghanistan Analysts Network who has written extensively about the Taliban. “Especially considering that such shootings have happened in their meetings before, though not at such a senior level.” |
| The claim that Mullah Mansour had been shot was further promoted by Mullah Dadullah’s breakaway faction, which has carried out the most public opposition to Mullah Mansour’s succession. The faction accuses Mullah Mansour of conspiring with Pakistani intelligence to cover up the death of the insurgents’ supreme leader and founder, Mullah Muhammad Omar, for more than two years until it was publicly revealed in July. | The claim that Mullah Mansour had been shot was further promoted by Mullah Dadullah’s breakaway faction, which has carried out the most public opposition to Mullah Mansour’s succession. The faction accuses Mullah Mansour of conspiring with Pakistani intelligence to cover up the death of the insurgents’ supreme leader and founder, Mullah Muhammad Omar, for more than two years until it was publicly revealed in July. |
| Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi, a spokesman for the faction, claimed on Thursday that Mullah Mansour had died of his injuries after being shot by a commander named Muhibullah as “an act of retaliation for the killing” of Mullah Dadullah. | Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi, a spokesman for the faction, claimed on Thursday that Mullah Mansour had died of his injuries after being shot by a commander named Muhibullah as “an act of retaliation for the killing” of Mullah Dadullah. |
| Still, just days before, that same spokesman had maintained that Mullah Dadullah was not even dead, even though Taliban and Afghan government officials both said he had been killed. And a spokesman for the core Taliban group, Qari Muhammad Yousuf Ahmadi, rejected the reports of Mullah Mansour’s shooting as baseless. | Still, just days before, that same spokesman had maintained that Mullah Dadullah was not even dead, even though Taliban and Afghan government officials both said he had been killed. And a spokesman for the core Taliban group, Qari Muhammad Yousuf Ahmadi, rejected the reports of Mullah Mansour’s shooting as baseless. |
| “Our credible sources state that Amir ul Mumineen has no presence in the stated area and neither has a security incident occurred there,” Mr. Ahmadi said in a statement, referring to Mullah Mansour by his title. | “Our credible sources state that Amir ul Mumineen has no presence in the stated area and neither has a security incident occurred there,” Mr. Ahmadi said in a statement, referring to Mullah Mansour by his title. |
| The drama around Mullah Mansour’s fate is unfolding as efforts are underway to restart the peace-talks effort in Pakistan, where the majority of the insurgent leaders are believed to be based. | The drama around Mullah Mansour’s fate is unfolding as efforts are underway to restart the peace-talks effort in Pakistan, where the majority of the insurgent leaders are believed to be based. |
| After months of little contact, President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan met with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan on the sidelines of the United Nations climate conference in Paris. The Pakistani government hopes Mr. Ghani will attend a regional conference on Afghanistan in Islamabad next week as a first step toward restarting peace talks with the Taliban, which after an initial burst of success this summer fell apart upon news of Mullah Omar’s death and the Taliban’s ensuing leadership struggle. | After months of little contact, President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan met with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan on the sidelines of the United Nations climate conference in Paris. The Pakistani government hopes Mr. Ghani will attend a regional conference on Afghanistan in Islamabad next week as a first step toward restarting peace talks with the Taliban, which after an initial burst of success this summer fell apart upon news of Mullah Omar’s death and the Taliban’s ensuing leadership struggle. |
| In his first months in office, Mr. Ghani banked tremendous political capital on courting Pakistan’s help in bringing the Taliban to the negotiation table. But his efforts ended in embarrassment after the revelation that Pakistani officials had been leading Mr. Ghani to negotiate with a dead man. And he and other government officials then accused Pakistan of going back on promises to crack down on the Taliban insurgency, which has waged a series of successful offensives in Afghanistan this year, including overrunning the northern provincial capital of Kunduz. | In his first months in office, Mr. Ghani banked tremendous political capital on courting Pakistan’s help in bringing the Taliban to the negotiation table. But his efforts ended in embarrassment after the revelation that Pakistani officials had been leading Mr. Ghani to negotiate with a dead man. And he and other government officials then accused Pakistan of going back on promises to crack down on the Taliban insurgency, which has waged a series of successful offensives in Afghanistan this year, including overrunning the northern provincial capital of Kunduz. |
| Further muddying the status of Mullah Mansour’s health, Mr. Ghani’s government has also taken up a strategy of trying to further stoke the infighting among the Taliban to undercut Mullah Mansour’s authority — leading some here to wonder whether reports of his shooting had been planted by Afghan intelligence in the first place. | Further muddying the status of Mullah Mansour’s health, Mr. Ghani’s government has also taken up a strategy of trying to further stoke the infighting among the Taliban to undercut Mullah Mansour’s authority — leading some here to wonder whether reports of his shooting had been planted by Afghan intelligence in the first place. |
| Mr. Osman, with the Afghanistan Analysts Network, said the government’s efforts had to some degree been adding to the Taliban’s internal struggle. But he said it was unclear whether it would ultimately weaken the insurgency or just increase the chaos on the battlefield. | Mr. Osman, with the Afghanistan Analysts Network, said the government’s efforts had to some degree been adding to the Taliban’s internal struggle. But he said it was unclear whether it would ultimately weaken the insurgency or just increase the chaos on the battlefield. |
| “The factionalism has certainly undermined the Taliban’s raison d’être in the first place, which was their unity in the face of the factionalism during the civil war,” Mr. Osman said. | “The factionalism has certainly undermined the Taliban’s raison d’être in the first place, which was their unity in the face of the factionalism during the civil war,” Mr. Osman said. |