A Divided Afghan Taliban Has Finally Accepted Its New Leader, Reports Say

After weeks of discord, resistant family members of late Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, have accepted the organization’s new leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, a source close to the Taliban has told the BBC.

While Mansour had been close to Mullah Omar during his leadership, some Taliban leaders, especially Omar’s relatives, were reportedly reluctant to accept his appointment, spreading concerns that the Taliban had become increasingly fractious.

Mansour, a former Civil Aviation Minister in Afghanistan’s Taliban government, was quickly appointed as the new head of the organization after Omar’s death was announced in July. Born in a small village in Kandahar around 1965, Mansour has been involved with the Taliban since its early days, according to al-Jazeera.

The family members may have little military influence, but their approval of Mansour was important to the rest of the Taliban, the BBC says. Now that they’ve finally come to accept him, other senior members of the group are expected to follow suit.

“We intend to protect and keep this movement united,” a statement on the Taliban’s website reads.

[BBC]