In an interview with IRNA, Rahimullah Yusufzai said by killing Taliban chief Mulla Akhtar Mansour in a drone strike in Balochistan, the US has killed the chances of any peace process in Afghanistan.
He said that Taliban are denying reports of death of their leader so far and they have also issued an audio message in this regards but it is not convincing. “I think Taliban are just in the process of consultation to elect a new leader before accepting the death of their leader,” he said.
He said Americans look quite confident in their claims about the death of Mulla Akhtar Mansour.
The analyst said that one of the deputies of Taliban, Sheikh Haibatullah Akhunzada or Sirajuddin Haqqani could succeed Mullah Akhtar Mansour as new Taliban chief.
Opposing the statement of US President Barack Obama that Taliban leader’s death is an important step in efforts to bring peace in Afghanistan, he said that US action has derailed peace process in Afghanistan.
“US by killing Taliban leader has killed the peace process in Afghanistan,” he said.
He went on to say that after the killing, Taliban would not join the peace process and on the other hand Pakistan is also not happy with the strike on its soil.
“It looks that US has changed its policy in Afghanistan and is ready to take action against Taliban instead of going to the negotiating table,” he said.
He said that US believes that Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) has failed to bring positive results thus action against Taliban is the only solution to peace in Afghanistan.
He said US has been generally opposed to engaging in peace talks with the Taliban, whether Afghan or Pakistan. “Though it backed the so-called Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process and verbally supported talks with the Taliban, its actions haven’t contributed to peacemaking in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he said.
Rahimullah Yusufzai, expressing his views, said that Taliban are committed to fight against US and in that case there are no hopes for the peace process in the war torn country.
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Killing Taliban leaders could not necessarily bring peace in Afghanistan: Analyst
May 23, 2016, 12:54 PM
News ID:
82084785
Islamabad, May 23, IRNA - Senior Pakistani analyst strongly believes that killing of Taliban leaders could not necessarily bring peace in Afghanistan.
