The Americans killed his brother “just for driving a auto”, Qasim said, stressing, “It was not written on [Mansour’s] forehead that he is a Taliban leader”.
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His brother Mumammad Qasim said in a police report that Azam regularly drove on the route near Taftan, a small village near the country’s border crossing with Iran, and had no ties with Taliban, Reuters reported.
A local government official Mureed Shah who used to know Azam personally gave an assurance that Azam had “no links with any militant group” and was only doing his job to support his family, the Guardian reported.
“His brother has in the report claimed that Azam was not a terrorist and the father of four children and the sole bread earner of the family”, the official said. “I seek justice, and legal action against the American entities responsible”. The Taliban leader passed himself off as a Pakistani citizen and was using a passport and national identification card that bore the false name Muhammad Wali. He had no idea of who was getting into his vehicle, he said. The program has drawn plenty of ire, with human right activists complaining about the collateral damage caused by the unmanned aircraft.
During the meeting, Aziz said the United States drone strikes were unacceptable as they damaged the peace efforts and violated the country’s sovereignty.
The mission, which the USA officials said was authorised by President Barack Obama, included multiple drones. “Pakistan has not shown willingness to use force against the Taliban, so the US decided that it would demonstrate its willingness to use force against Taliban leadership that was unwilling to come to the table”, Curtis said. The Pakistani side, however, said that Mansour “was not opposed to peace talks”.
Sartaj Aziz said: “The death of Mullah Akhter Mansour has added to the complexity of the Afghan conflict”. Their aim is to chart a roadmap toward talks between the Afghan government and the insurgents to end the 15-year war, but the disarray within the Taliban has complicated those efforts. “It is time for Afghans to stop fighting and to start building a real future together”.
The two, Haqqani and Yaqoub, have already “divided Afghanistan into two parts” and each wants to control his own section, said one Taliban commander said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the Taliban leadership. “Drone attacks are an attack on Pakistan’s sovereignty”, he said.
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Mansour adopted a similar stance soon after taking reins of the Taliban in the summer of 2015, after the revelation about the 2013 death of Mullah Muhammad Omar, the founder and spiritual leader of the Taliban.
