Clearly the Taliban hasn’t gotten the memo that terrorism has nothing to do with Islam. John Kerry and Pope Francis need to fly to Peshawar, make their way to Taliban headquarters, and explain to Haibatullah Akhundzada how the true Islam is peaceful and rejects all forms of terrorism and violence.
“How the Taliban Hastily Chose Haibatullah Akhundzada as its New Leader,” Reuters, May 25, 2016:
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Islamic legal scholar appointed leader of the Afghan Taliban on Wednesday, was not the obvious choice when senior members of the militant movement gathered to appoint a new “emir”.
The “shura”, or leadership council, was convened in haste after leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan on Saturday, presenting the Taliban with their second succession in less than a year….
He has been identified by the United Nations as the former chief of the hardline justice system imposed by the Taliban when it ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001.
Within an hour of the appointment being announced, a bus carrying court employees west of Kabul was blown up in a suicide attack, killing up to 11 people and wounding more. The Taliban claimed responsibility….
“He (Akhundzada) is of the older generation, he is one of the founders. So he has more respect as a religious scholar, while Sirajuddin Haqqani and Yaqoob … are pretty young,” said Thomas Ruttig of the Afghanistan Analysts Network.