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The Afghan Taliban have announced their next leader: Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, an extremist scholar with no military experience.


With the announcement, the Taliban confirmed that their previous leader, Mullah Mohammed Akhtar Mansour, was 

killed by a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan last week

.
In addition to announcing Akhundzada as the new leader, the Taliban also named his two deputies, NPR's Tom Bowman reports: Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is responsible for many of the suicide bombings in Kabul, and Mullah Yaqoub, the son of the Taliban's original leader, 

Both deputies had been considered top choices for the leadership role now assumed by Akhundzada.

"What's interesting is that Sirajuddin Haqqani was the choice of Pakistan, and Mullah Yakoub, he was the choice of the Taliban inside Afghanistan," Tom tells our Newscast unit. "So it seems like this new guy, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, was kind of a compromise candidate."

Since Akhundzada doesn't have any military experience, some Taliban-watchers suspect Haqqani will be the true power, Tom says. Haqqani is already involved in planning Taliban military operations.

The Associated Press has more background on the new Taliban leader:

It's unclear what Akhundzada's new leadership role will mean for the future of peace talks in the region.

Mansour, the Taliban leader who was killed last week, refused to negotiate with the Afghan government.

"We have no sense at this point where Akhundzada stands on negotiations," Tom says.

Reuters reports that after releasing word of Akhundzada's new role, the Taliban made news for another reason:

Religion and Faith

The Afghan Taliban confirmed that a U.S. drone strike killed their leader last week, and they announced his successor: Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, an extremist scholar without military experience.

Taliban name new leader, confirm death of Mullah Mansour

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