Taliban publishes rare audio message from supreme leader

The leader of the Afghanistan Taliban Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada (Afghan Islamic Press/AP)

The Taliban have published a rare audio message from their supreme leader, who says justice is an instrument for the Afghan government’s survival.

Hibatullah Akhundzada, an Islamic scholar, almost never appears in public and hardly ever leaves the Taliban heartland in southern Kandahar province.