KABUL, Afghanistan -- A little-known extremist cleric was chosen Wednesday to be the new leader of the Afghan Taliban just days after a U.S. drone strike killed his predecessor.
But within hours of the Taliban's announcement that the group's council of leaders had unanimously selected Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, opposition to him emerged.
The Taliban called on all Muslims to support Akhundzada as a matter of religious obligation and declared three days of official mourning for Mullah Mohammad Akhtar Mansour, who was killed Saturday by a U.S. drone in Pakistan.
The announcement came as a suicide bomber detonated in a minibus carrying court employees in Kabul, killing at least 11 people, an official said. The Taliban promptly claimed responsibility for the attack.
Afghan government officials took the opportunity of Akhundzada's ascension to again offer direct negotiations aimed at ending the Taliban's 15-year insurgency. Both Afghanistan and the U.S. considered Mansour to be an obstacle to the peace process between the Taliban and the Afghan government.
The office of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said the latest developments brought the Taliban "yet another opportunity to end and renounce violence, lay down their arms, and resume a normal and peaceful life."
Deputy presidential spokesman Zafar Hashemi said if the Taliban decide against joining the peace process, "they will face the fate of their leadership."
Hours after the Taliban's statement concerning their new leader was made to the media, the head of a main dissident faction that broke away last year to protest Mansour's elevation said the group would not accept Akhundzada either.
The breakaway faction, led by Mullah Mohammad Rasool, did not appear to object so much to Akhundzada as to the closed and undemocratic manner of the council's selection process, which is believed to have met in Pakistan.
Rasool's splinter group is based in western Afghanistan near the border with Iran, and has fought battles in the south with Mansour loyalists.
Rasool's deputy, Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi, said the faction would not accept Akhundzada's leadership for the same reason they rejected Mansour: He was elected by a clique of Pakistan-based insiders with little input from the rank-and-file or field commanders in Afghanistan.
"For us, the issue with Mullah Akhtar Mansour and this Haibatullah is the same," Niazi said. "We were not against Mullah Akhtar Mansour but the way he was selected, and yet again they sit together and choose one another. ... We will not accept him as a new leader until and unless all religious scholars and tribal elders sit together and appoint a new leader."
Akhundzada, believed to be in his 50s, is a religious scholar who was the Taliban's chief justice before his appointment as a deputy to Mansour.
He is known for public statements justifying the Taliban's extremist tactics and war against the Afghan government.
His views are regarded as hawkish, and he is expected to continue the aggressive style of Mansour, who refused offers to negotiate with the Kabul government and launched a series of bold attacks during his brief and divisive rule.
Akhundzada is regarded as a convincing orator and was close to Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar, who consulted with him on religious matters.
A member of the Noorzai tribe, Akhundzada comes from a line of religious scholars and heads a string of madrassas, or religious schools, across Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province.
Information for this article was contributed by Rahim Faiez of The Associated Press.
A Section on 05/26/2016