Alwaght- Maulana Sami ul Haq, the leader of Sami ul Haq eponymous faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, who is also the chancellor of Darul Uloom Haqqania School in the Pashtuni province of "Khyber Pakhtunkhwa" together with other scholars of this school, have pledged allegiance to "Mullah Akhtar Mansoor" the new leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The allegiance pledge was made at a function presided over by Maulana Sami-ul Haq, known as the ‘Father of the Taliban’, at the Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Haqqania at the start of the academic year where thousands of supporters of the party declared their allegiance to the new leader of the Afghan Taliban. At the function, he said: "Pakistan and Afghanistan clerics and jihadists should set aside their differences, because the time has come to have a safe and secure region. All clerics and jihadists in Pakistan and Afghanistan should unanimously submit to leadership of Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, the successor of Mullah Omar".
The chief of eponymous faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, stated: "the people of Afghanistan have rendered great sacrifices to establish security and protect the country and also enforce the Islamic Shariah. The unity between clerics and jihadists in Afghanistan is a necessity to survive the foreign conspiracies, otherwise the victory of the Muslims in the region will be doomed to failure." It is reported that in response, the participants - mostly seminary students - shouted ‘Long Live Mullah Omar’ and ‘Long Live Mullah Mansoor’ to demonstrate their support for Sami-ul Haq's stance towards the Afghan Taliban.
As the death of Mullah Mohammed Omar was publicized and Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour was elected as the Taliban's new leader, there were a widening rift over his nomination as the group’s supremo. It appears that in recent days, the differences on the issue has been resolved to some extent. As the jihadist leaders, Mujahideens, intellectuals, elders of tribes, influential figures, and the people in the provinces of Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Zabul, Nangarhar, Paktika, Ghor, Ghazni, Paktia, Baghlan, Nuristan, Badghis, Kunduz, Faryab, Kunar, Badakhshan, Balkh, Samangan, Parwan, Bamyan, Panjshir, Kapisa, Kabul, Logar, etc., gathered and after saying prayers for Mullah Omar, former leader of the Afghan Taliban, pledged allegiance to Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, the new leader of the group. In addition to the various provinces of Afghanistan, influential figures and the elites, Afghan leaders and people in the cities of Karachi, Peshawar, Haripur, Quetta and other Pakistani cities, after offering prayer for the former leader of the Afghan Taliban, pledged their allegiance to the new leader of this group. While all those people are declaring their allegiance, we hear that many influential figures such as "Jalaluddin Haqqani", the leader of Haqqani Network and his family, the family of "Maulvi Mohammad Yunus Khalis", the family of "Maulvi Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi" and family members and relatives of "Nasrullah Mansoor" have been killed. Last week, death of Mullah Omar, the former Afghan Taliban's leader, was broadcasted and confirmed by the government and the National Directorate of Security of Afghanistan, Taliban and even the family of Mullah Omar.
Analysis of the event
The news agencies have reported that Maulana Sami ul Haq, the leader of Sami ul Haq faction of the Jamiat Ulema-e Islam, has pledged allegiance to Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, the new leader of Taliban. The allegiance of the seventy-eight year old Sami ul Haq, the chancellor of Darul Uloom Haqqania School, one of the prestigious seminaries in Pakistan, in which many Taliban leaders have studies religious courses, is quite important and is worth reviewing in different respects.
Three years ago, based on recommendations of Pakistan's Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Sami ul Haq was appointed as the Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC). One of the main tasks of the Council was to set up ambush on the way of the convoys of fuel for NATO and the US forces which were travelling from Karachi to Afghanistan. The council members such as retired General Hamid Gul, the former head of the ISI, Colonel Imam who was associated to ISI and Pakistan's consul general in Herat during the rule of the Taliban (who has recently died), Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, head of Jamaat ud Dawa il al Quran al Sunnat (JDQ), the main suspect of Pakistan Mumbai event, all used to stage ambush on fuel convoys and set them on fire.
Accordingly, the allegiance of Sami ul Haq to the new leader of the Taliban, implies that the ISI is directing the Taliban which is under the leadership of Mullah Akhtar Mansoor. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that allegiance of Sami ul Haq to Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, will practically make way for full support of Islamabad from Mullah Akhtar Mansoor. On the other hand, due to the influence of Maulana Sami ul Haq on Haqqani group and considering his close ties with Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of Haqqani Network, this allegiance is equal to allegiance of all Haqqani network to Mullah Akhtar Mansoor. From now on, we would expect collaboration and joint actions of the Haqqani network and Mullah Akhtar Mansoor.
Undoubtedly, the alliance between the Haqqani network and the Taliban led by Mullah Akhtar Mansoor is likely to result in significant developments in Afghanistan and it would also bring about serious problems for the government of Afghanistan. What needs to be considered at this stage of developments in Afghanistan, is the tactical change in the US strategy in Afghanistan. After the events of 11 September, particularly under President Hamid Karzai, the US had little interest in the presence of Pakistan at developments in Afghanistan. To the extent that, without the knowledge of the Pakistani army and the ISI, the US forces launched a night raid on Osama bin Laden's hideout in a military town (Abbottabad), nest to an army training center, and arrested bin laden and transferred him to an unknown location, and apparently killed him.
However, in a close collaboration with the Pakistani army, the US has allowed the Pakistan to exert influence on the Taliban and its leadership in Afghanistan. Therefore, Pakistan's security service makes attempts to direct the developments in Afghanistan according to common interests and goals of the US and Pakistan. Pakistan's influence on Afghanistan has always been associated with multiple crises, and now this crisis in some other ways will be spread not only in Afghanistan but also to other regions of the Central Asia.
