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Afghanistan

Taliban say killing of leader's brother will not derail peace talks

2019-08-18

[DAWN] The Afghan Taliban
Taliban

...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
on Saturday said the killing of a brother of their leader in the Quetta mosque kaboom on Friday would not derail talks with the United States.

And the injured son (how badly injured has not been reported) is likewise of no interest whatsoever.

Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada
...Former deputy to Taliban supremo Mullah Akhtar Mansour, now The Big Man Himself...
was not in the mosque near Quetta on Friday when a bomb went off but his younger brother, Hafiz Ahmadullah, was leading Friday prayers and was killed, several Taliban officials have said.

The kaboom inside the mosque just before Friday prayers killed four people, including the prayer leader, and left 25 others injured in the Kuchlak area on the outskirts of the scenic provincial capital.

The explosion was carried out with the help of a time device, which was planted under the wooden chair of the prayer leader, when he started delivering the Friday sermon, according to police and bomb disposal squad officials.

There was no claim of responsibility for the blast that came after both Taliban and US officials reported progress in talks on an agreement centred on a US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in exchange for a Taliban security guarantee.

"If someone thinks martyring our leaders would stop us from our goal they're living in a fool's paradise," a Taliban leader said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

"We are close to our goals," he said, referring to the talks with the US. He declined to be identified.

Khaama Press adds:

The former Afghan intelligence chief and running mate of Ashraf Ghani in presidential elections reacted to the killing of the brother of Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada in an explosion in Pakistan.

Saleh said in a Twitter post “The name of the Talbn politburo is Quetta Shura. It is located in Quetta of Pakistan.”

Furthermore, Saleh said “One of their senior members was killed today in a blast as the rift is growing over the deal with the US & prospects of peace. Seemingly ultra ISI are killing the less ISI Talibn. Cheap proxies.”

An interesting perspective...

Posted by:Fred

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