Friday, November 8, 2013

Pakistan’s Taliban announced Thursday they had chosen Mullah Fazlullah as their new leader. A US drone attack last week killed their previous leader, Hakimullah Mehsud.

Fazlullah, who takes credit for ordering the attack on schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai in 2012, is known for his rejection of peace talks.

The Pakistani government has suggested the United States’ fatal missile strike on Mehsud had already ruined peace talk efforts with the Taliban. The drone strike which killed Mehsud coincided with government preparations to meet the terrorist group with the view of opening peace talks. Pakistani Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan called the killing of Mehsud “not just the killing of person, it’s the death of all peace efforts”.

Fuzlullah led the Pakistani Taliban in Pakistan’s Swat Valley between roughly 2007 and 2009.

Pakistani authorities believe Fuzlullah is presently living in the Afghan province of Kunar.