Men prayed for Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban's supreme leader, in Quetta, Pakistan, on Saturday after his death was confirmed. Credit Naseer Ahmed/Reuters
New York Times: Afghan War’s Convenient Myth: A Living Mullah Omar
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban, it turns out, had been sending the world messages from a dead man. And the world kept answering him.
It continued until last month, when the Taliban issued a statement in the name of their supreme leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, intended to “elucidate some issues about the previous and present ongoing jihadi struggle.” In it, Mullah Omar seemed open to the idea of peace negotiations, raising hopes in Kabul.
The reclusive Mullah Omar, of course, had not been seen in public in nearly 14 years, and some of his commanders, having last heard from him around 2008 or 2009, had been demanding proof of life.
Mullah Omar, according to the Afghan spy service and some Taliban officials, had already been dead for more than two years — as many Afghan officials strongly suspected.
WNU Editor: When the leader of the enemy is found to have been dead for months (if not years) and the US did not know it .... and the only reason why his death was confirmed was because of intense pressure from Taliban commanders for proof that he was alive .... it tells me volumes on how dismal both human intel and signal intelligence has been in Afghanistan and Pakistan. I now understand (among many reasons) why we are not winning the Afghan war. In the meantime .... the new Taliban leader .... who is probably the one who convinced both the U.S. and Afghan governments that the Taliban wants peace .... is vowing to continue insurgency .... New Taliban leader vows to continue insurgency (Al Jazeera).
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