Syed Zafar Hashemi, a deputy spokesman for Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, speaks during a news conference in Kabul. Inset: Mullah Omar
Agecnies/Kabul

Taliban supremo Mullah Omar died two years ago in Pakistan, Afghanistan said yesterday, after unnamed government and militant sources reported the demise of the reclusive warrior-cleric.  
The insurgents have not officially confirmed the death of the supreme leader of the Taliban, who has not been seen publicly since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban government in Kabul.
Rumours of Omar’s ill-health and even death have regularly surfaced in the past, but the latest claims —just two days before fresh peace talks with the insurgents — mark the first such confirmation from the Afghan government.
“The government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, based on credible information, confirms that Mullah Mohamed Omar, leader of the Taliban died in April 2013 in Pakistan,” a statement from the presidential palace said.
“The government of Afghanistan believes that grounds for the Afghan peace talks are more paved now than before, and thus calls on all armed opposition groups to seize the opportunity and join the peace process.”
Haseeb Sediqi, the spokesman for the National Directorate of Security, said that Omar died in a Karachi hospital “under mysterious circumstances”.
Omar’s death would mark a significant blow to an almost 14-year insurgency, which is riven by internal divisions and threatened by the rise of the Islamic State group in South Asia.
The official announcement comes after unnamed government and militant sources told media, including AFP, that the one-eyed leader died two or three years ago, and after the Afghan government said it was investigating reports of the death.
“We can confirm that Mullah Omar died two years ago... in Pakistan due to an illness,” a senior official in Afghanistan’s national unity government said earlier.
“He was buried in Zabul province (in southern Afghanistan),” said the official, citing Afghan intelligence sources.
Omar’s death is likely to intensify the internal tussle to replace him.
The Taliban is already split between senior figures who support talks with Kabul to end the 13-year war and others who want to continue to fight for power.
A senior Afghan Taliban commander based in neighbouring Pakistan said Omar had died of natural causes, although he did not specify when. “We are at a crossroads, and it will take some time to resolve this (leadership) issue,” the militant said.
He added that a faction within the Taliban wanted one of Omar’s sons to take over, while another favoured the promotion of political leader Akhtar Mohamed Mansour, who has been among those who support peace talks.
Michael Kugelman, a senior associate for South and Southeast Asia at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said Omar’s death would explain his silence when Nato troops withdrew and when Ghani’s government took power.
“These death confirmations and rejections are all part of a big pitch for power within an increasingly fractured and rudderless (Taliban) organisation,” he said, speaking before the palace issued its statement.
The insurgents in April published a descriptive biography of the “charismatic” supreme leader in a surprise move apparently aimed at countering the creeping influence of the Islamic State group within their ranks.
The Taliban have reportedly seen defections to IS in recent months, with some members expressing disaffection with the low-profile leader Omar.
The biography, posted on the Taliban’s official website to commemorate Omar’s apparent 19th year as supreme leader, described him as being actively involved in “jihadi activities” — trying to dispel speculation that he had died.
Earlier this month in a message released in Omar’s name, the leader was quoted as hailing the peace process as “legitimate”.
The comments, the first reputedly made by Omar on the nascent dialogue, eased concerns at the time that the process lacked the leadership’s backing.
But a member of the Quetta Shura, the Taliban’s governing council, voiced doubt over whether that message — released just before the festival of Eid-al-Fitr — was from Mullah Omar himself.
“For the last few years he has not attended any big gathering, neither has he sent any audio message to his followers,” the member, who requested anonymity, said yesterday.
“That gives us reason to believe that he has died.”

Related Story