Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Al-Qaeda leader, has pledged allegiance to the new Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour. Zawahiri had regarded the former Taliban head Mullah Omar, who died last month, to be the leader of the global jihadist movement. Zawahiri said: “As emir of al-Qaeda, I pledge to you our allegiance, following the path of Sheikh (Osama) bin Laden and his martyred brothers in their allegiance to Mullah Omar.”