KABUL (News Desk) – One of the main commander of Haqqani network, Sirajuddin Haqqani is expected to succeed Taliban chief Mullah Akhter Mansour, who was reportedly killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on Saturday.
According to media reports quoting two unnamed Taliban sources, a meeting of top Taliban council, called Rahbari Shura, was held at an undisclosed location in Afghanistan on Sunday, to choose the new leader of the insurgent group in the aftermath of Mansour’s killing, during which Sirajuddin Haqqani emerged as a frontrunner.
Other names considered for the top position were Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, the son of former Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir, former Guantanamo prisoner, and Mullah Sherin.