Taliban leader calls for unity

The leader of the Afghan Taliban on Friday called on followers to end divisions and rally behind him in the battle against the Kabul government as authorities step up the fight against the 15-year-old insurgency.

In a message distributed to media, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor claimed the Taliban were winning the war and were "in a better state than at any other time."

Separately, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had been hoping to revive a stalled peace process with face-to-face talks earlier this month with Taliban representatives. The Taliban issued a statement last week saying they would not participate.

Referring to Afghanistan as the Islamic Emirate, Mansoor said that all efforts must be made to reunite the Taliban, split since last summer when they admitted that their founder and leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, had been dead for more than two years.