With Mullah Omar gone, Afghan Taleban names new leader

Peshawar - Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour was appointed leader at a meeting of the Taleban's top representatives.

The Taleban have chosen supreme leader Mullah Omar's deputy to replace him, two militant commanders said on Thursday, as Pakistan announced that scheduled peace talks between the insurgents and the Afghan government would be postponed.

Pakistan cited a statement in Kabul on Wednesday about Omar's death as the reason for the delay in negotiations, amid fears that it could trigger a potentially bloody succession battle.

Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour was appointed leader at a meeting of the Taleban's top representatives, many of whom are based in the Pakistani city of Quetta, according to the sources who were present at the shura, or gathering.

"The shura held outside Quetta unanimously elected Mullah Mansour as the new emir of the Taleban," said one commander at the Wednesday night meeting.

"The shura will release a statement shortly."

Siraj Haqqani, leader of the powerful Haqqani militant faction, will be a deputy to Mansour, both commanders added.

Mansour will be only the second leader the Taleban have had since Omar, an elusive figure rarely seen in public who founded the ultra-conservative movement in the 1990s.

The Taleban eventually conquered most of Afghanistan before being driven from power in 2001 by a US-led military intervention.

The Afghan government said on Wednesday that Omar died more than two years ago in the Pakistani city of Karachi.

"We are aware of the reports and trying to ascertain the details," Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Qazi Khalilullah said.

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