New Taliban chief dashes Obama’s hopes for talks

Washington, May 26

The selection of a hardline cleric as the new Taliban chief on Wednesday all but dashes US President Barack Obama’s hopes for opening peace talks before he leaves office, one of his top foreign policy goals, current and former US defense and intelligence officials said.

The Taliban leadership council tapped Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, a conservative Islamic scholar from the group’s stronghold in southern Afghanistan, to succeed Mullah Akhtar Mansour, four days after Mansour was killed in a US drone strike.

US officials had called Mansour a major impediment to peace talks, and some had expressed hope his death would eliminate an obstacle to peace negotiations between the Taliban and the government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

Instead, some experts said Akhundzada was likely to pursue aggressive attacks throughout the summer, intensifying the pressure on Obama to reconsider his plan to withdraw US military trainers and special forces and leave the decision on how to end America’s longest war to his successor. Late last year, Obama announced he would keep 9,800 US military personnel in Afghanistan through most of 2016. He added that US troops would be drawn down to 5,500 by the start of 2017.

Obama has made extracting the US from its 15-year war in Afghanistan a top priority, unsuccessfully pursuing efforts to bring the Taliban into talks. — Reuters