Second round of Taliban-Afghan govt peace talks postponed

Islamabad, July 30: The second round of peace talks between Afghanistan government and Afghan Taliban scheduled to be held in Pakistan on July 31 has been postponed, said a statement issued by the Pakistan foreign office.

The governments of US and China, who had observer status during the first round of talks on earlier this month, have been informed of the latest development.

The decision is outcome of reported death of Mullah Omar, the Supreme Commander of the Taliban.
His death was kept secret from the world which was revealed by the BBC citing sources in Afghanistan government.

The BBC states that Mullah Omar had died three years back itself. He was being kept alive only so that the Taliban does not dis-integrate.

Pakistan and other friendly countries of Afghanistan hope that the Taliban leadership will stay engaged in the process of peace talks in order to promote a lasting peace in Afghanistan.

It is further hoped that those forces, which due to their malafide intent wanted to undermine the peace talks, will not succeed in their designs.

He is the supreme commander and the most flamboyant leader of the Taliban. The Taliban needed to keep his name afloat to ensure that the group did not splinter further. Recently, the Taliban had put up a bio-data of Mullah Omar and had listed his likes and dislikes.

Recently, the Taliban had also issued a statement claiming that Mullah Omar had sent out his wishes on Ramadan.

The death of Mullah Omar would be a major blow to the Taliban. It is already struggling to keep pace with the host of newer terror groups that have emerged.

In fact, all the cadres have been told that Mullah Omar is very much alive and it is just a matter of time before he leads the Taliban.

The Taliban had recently launched an offensive and had staged a series of attacks in Afghanistan. The group is going through difficult times and hence, it was necessary for them to ensure that Mullah Omar was kept alive.

OneIndia News