Mullah Omar

Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban, was at a walking distance from US Forward Operating Base (FOB) Lagman and later just three miles from another FOB Wolverine.

But the premature announcement of the demise of Mullah Omar put a spanner in the works and Mullah Mansoor had to wage a bloody power struggle to become "amir".

"From the day he took over the Taliban following the death of Mullah Omar, he intensified violence against ordinary citizens, especially in Afghanistan."

Accentuating the irony, al-Zawahiri had initially opposed Usama bin Ladin's pledge of allegiance to Mullah Omar two decades previously, if we are to trust the account given by Egyptian jihadi Mustaf Hamid (better known as Abu'l-Walid al-Masri).

The development comes nearly seven months after they put aside their opposition to Mansour as Taliban's new leader after the reports on Mullah Omar death was confirmed two years later than his decease.

The demise of Mullah Omar also brought to the fore old protagonists like Amrullah Saleh, the former head of NDS, Afghanistan's intelligence agency.

But with ISIS getting a foothold there and deals made with jihadists, their new head Mansoor has proved less a stickler for rules than Mullah Omar."

Now all Mullah Omar's statements since April 2013 are in question, and so are the men who made them in his name.

Islamabad: The government on Friday categorically denied claims Afghan Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar had died in Pakistan and was also buried in the country.

It is hard to miss a link between the timing of the announcement of Taleban leader Mullah Omar's death and the peace talks brokered by Pakistan.

The second round of face-to-face talks between Afghan government officials and Taliban representatives, brokered by Pakistan, was postponed following confirmation of Mullah Omar's death two years ago.

The Taliban has remained vague on exactly when Mullah Omar died.

The death • This is the third time in five years that there has been news of Mullah Omar's death • This time the Taliban have confirmed the news.