More Speculation
The National Review offers some good old-fashioned speculation:
"There were some strange things going on in Afghanistan last week. The Pakistani press reported that Mullah Omar had convened a Shura (council meeting) in Kandahar on the 16th of more than 100 Taliban commanders. This alone strikes one as unusual. How could they get to Kandahar safely? And, once there, wouldn’t they present a perfect target for the allied forces? Maybe they were -- the meeting lasted until the 19th, which was the day of the U.S. Ranger raid on Kandahar. When the Shura ended, the Taliban issued some odd comments. For example, they `advised´ Mullah Omar to `control the command of the Taliban army by remaining underground,´ and also `directed Osama bin Laden and his associates to remain underground.´ They also set up a line of succession should Omar be `martyred,´ and `expressed their determination to remain united until the end, even after their leader is martyred It might sound like prudent planning to establish a line of succession ... but in an authoritarian regime it is rare. Usually it amounts to a death sentence for the person tapped as the successor. The AP reports of the arrest of 100 people in Kandahar also fits the puzzle. And one more thing to consider: On Oct. 16, Taliban Corps Commander Mullah Muhammad Akhtar Usmani ... made a lengthy statement that Omar and his family were `safe at their residence´ and `completely unharmed.´ But no one had claimed otherwise"