KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Defying warnings from Washington and the fury of Afghanistan’s government, Pakistani authorities are turning a blind eye to a meeting of hundreds of Taliban supporters in a city near the Afghan border aimed at resolving a dispute over the group’s leadership following the death of figurehead Mullah Mohammad Omar.
The gathering in the Pakistani city of Quetta, where the Taliban’s leadership has been largely based since they were pushed from power by a U.S.-led invasion in 2001, has drawn some 1,000 Taliban adherents who have openly descended on the city for a “unity shura,” a meeting intended to resolve the leadership crisis and reunite the group, whose divisions have been publicly aired since Mullah Omar’s death was revealed in late July.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has accused Pakistan of harboring groups that are waging war on his country. His deputy spokesman, Zafar Hashemi told The Associated Press that Pakistan was failing to take action against “those groups holding gatherings in public and declaring war against the Afghan people,” a reference to the Taliban meetings in Quetta.
The Taliban’s struggle to overthrow the Kabul government is nearing its 14th year. Thousands of U.S. and NATO soldiers, along with many more thousands of Afghan civilians, troops and police have been killed in the fighting, which has intensified following the drawdown last year of most foreign combat troops. The Taliban are clearly testing the Afghan forces as they take on the insurgency alone, though their fighters have made little significant progress on the battlefield.
The leadership struggle became public after the Afghan government announced in late July that Mullah Omar had been dead since April 2013. His deputy, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, was declared his successor, but Mullah Omar’s family objected, saying the vote to elect the new leader was not representative of the group. The unity shura – essentially a dispute resolution committee – was established in early August to deal with the crisis and shura leader Ahmad Rabbani says its decision could be reached in days.