The Afghan Taliban announced Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada as the new chief, successor to Mullah Mansour after he was killed in a US drone strike on his car in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on Saturday. The group acknowledged Mansour’s death and it also said that Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, son of Taliban founder Mullah Omar, would become a joint deputy head of the movement, alongside current deputy leader Sirajuddin Haqqani.

US President Barack Obama, who authorized the drone strikes, had confirmed the death Monday. He said Mansour had rejected efforts “to seriously engage in peace talks”, adding that direct negotiations with the Afghan government were the only way to end the attritional conflict. The US and Afghan governments said he was an obstacle to the thorny peace process between the Taliban and the Afghan authorities. Indeed under his stewardship militant attacks escalated and became more daring.

On the statement of Taliban said, “Haibatullah Akhundzada has been appointed as the new leader of the Islamic Emirate (Taliban) after a unanimous agreement in the shura (supreme council), and all the members of shura pledged allegiance to him”

Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, a religious scholar and former head of the Taliban courts, was one of the Afghan Taliban’s deputy leaders. One of the founding members of Afghan Taliban told reporters their new leader is an educated and well-respected member of the organization who could prove easier to negotiate a peace settlement.