The new leader of the Afghan Taliban is telling commanders and the group's supreme leadership council that there will be no peace talks with the Afghan government, a group source said.
The source said that Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, who was appointed to lead the terror group after a U.S. drone strike killed Mullah Akhtar Mohammed Mansour, will follow the militant policies espoused by founder Mullah Omar, who was killed in Pakistan in 2013.
His appointment comes at a time when The Taliban has made strong battlefield gains against government forces in recent months, driving back Afghan troops from key positions and launching a string of bombings in Kabul.