(29 May 2016) A breakaway Taliban faction is willing to hold peace talks with the Afghan government but would demand the imposition of Islamic law and the departure of all foreign forces, a senior leader of the group said on Sunday.
Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi told a group of around 200 followers in eastern Afghanistan that his faction had no faith in the government but was willing to negotiate without the preconditions.
Niazi is deputy to Mullah Mohammad Rasool, who split from the Taliban last summer after Mullah Akhtar Mansoor was chosen to succeed the group's late founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar.
Mansoor was killed earlier this month in a US drone strike in Pakistan and was replaced days later by a little-known conservative cleric, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada.
The main Taliban faction has expressed similar demands, but says it will only enter peace talks after they have been met.
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