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Taliban Number Two Dies In Pakistan
KABUL, April 16 (News Agencies) - The second most powerful figure in Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia, Mullah Mohammad Rabbani, died in neighboring Pakistan early Monday after a long battle with cancer, officials said.
"He passed away after morning prayers," one senior official said, requesting not to be named.
Staff at the Taliban embassy in Pakistan confirmed his death at the Combined Military Hospital, Rawalpindi, and said his body would be flown to his home in the southern province of Kandahar later Monday.
It was not immediately clear who would replace Rabbani, 45, as the second-in-command under supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
A founding member of the militia, Rabbani was considered to be among the more moderate elements of its extremely conservative leadership although he had been relatively inactive in recent years.
Most observers expect his replacement to come from hardline circles, in keeping with the militia's recent tendency towards an even stricter interpretation of its Islamic mission in Afghanistan.
Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakel said official mourning would be held throughout the country on Wednesday and there would a three-day official holiday to honor this "significant, pious, mujahid [holy warrior] leader".
"It is very clear that his piety, his path, his services to the people and his struggle will be the pattern for our future path," Mutawakel said.
Rabbani was an important commander with the Hizb-i-Islami (Khalis) faction during the 1979-89 jihad against the Soviets.
Later, he became chairman of the Council of Ministers in the Taliban Islamic militia that took control of Kabul in 1996 and now rules most of the country.
Rabbani's medical visits to Pakistan and the Middle East had become more frequent in recent months, but the Taliban denied he was seriously sick in August when he left Kabul on one of his last medical check-ups.
Despite his reputation as a moderate, Rabbani stoutly defended the militia against international outcry over its torture, mutilation and public hanging of deposed pro-Moscow president Mohammad Najibullah in Kabul in 1996.
As head of the Kabul Shura (council), he also oversaw the early days of the militia's rule in the once-liberal capital, when law and order was restored after years of factional fighting at a heavy cost to personal liberties.
The religious police beat women who did not wear the traditional full-body covering in public, televisions were smashed and video and audio cassette tape was strung from the trees as a warning against "un-Islamic" influences.
The Taliban, or Islamic Students, adhere to a unique brand of Sunni Islam mixed with ethnic Pashtun customs.
Pakistan President Rafiq Tarar and military ruler General Pervez Musharraf expressed deep sorrow and grief over the death.
"Late Mullah Rabbani was not only a dedicated and cherished leader of Afghanistan but also a friend of Pakistan. He will always be remembered with love and affection," Musharraf said in his message to Mullah Omar.
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