Taliban chief calls for unity

The new leader of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Mansour, called for unity and raised the possibility of peace talks with the government in Kabul in a message released on Tuesday to mark the Muslim festival of Eid.

The message comes days after a group of dissident Taliban commanders denounced Mansour’s recent appointment to replace the Islamist militant group’s late leader, Mullah Omar.

Many Taliban commanders oppose Mansour, blaming him for concealing news of Omar’s death and describing his appointment as irregular.

“The creation of different groups ... is the last conspiracy of the invaders for continuation of the American proxy war in Afghanistan,” Mansour said in the Eid message.

“God willing, the Afghan Muslim people will, through their strengthening of unity, foil this conspiracy.”

Mansour also raised the possibility of resurrecting peace talks with the Afghan government, but warned others not to get involved. The first round of negotiations was held in Pakistan in early July but the talks collapsed after it became known Omar had been dead for two years.

“If the country is not under occupation, the problem of the Afghans can be resolved through intra-Afghan understanding. Any foreign pressure under the pretext of resolving the Afghan problem is not going to resolve the problem but will rather create other problems,” Mansour said.