Mansour’s death was unusual not just because the USA owned up to the attack, but also because it was targeted at a prominent figure in the Taliban, which has generally been off-limits under the Obama administration.
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Muhammad Azam, a Pakistani citizen, was driving Mansour from the Pakistan-Iran border to Quetta, in Pakistan, when a drone destroyed the auto and killed both men.
Neither the Pakistani, nor American governments have so far contacted the family consisting of Azam’s wife, his four children, and a disabled brother Yar Muhammad, to discuss compensation after the loss of the breadwinner.
Now, Azam’s family are lodging a criminal lawsuit against the United States government. He said they hardly earn enough to have two meals daily.
They were accused of using unjustified force against Anwar al-Awlaki, who was a wanted terrorist in Yemen and the USA, his son and his assistant. Thousands of Afghan opposition troops paraded before their leaders on Monday in a symbolic sign that their army was ready to take on the Taliban and push to the gates of Kabul.
The FIR, however, does not mention any USA officials by name.
“US officials whose name I do not know accepted responsibility in the media for this incident, so I want justice and request legal action against those responsible for it”, he said in a police report.
The Pakistani police are obliged to launch an investigation now, and it is unclear if the charges will be against the officials who ordered the strike or the servicemen who carried it out near the Pakistan-Iran border.
Earlier, in an apparent reference to Pakistan, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was quoted as saying that “some countries only exported terrorism, but our trilateral exports is self-belief, cooperation, and exhausting opportunities this region provides us to give our nation welfare and stability”. A separate report on drone strikes in Yemen by Human Rights Watch accused the US of killing civilians and causing disproportionate civilian harm.
Islamabad maintains that the strike runs contrary to the worldwide regulation and violates its sovereignty because it was carried out on the Pakistani soil. Find us on Facebook too!
Special Assistant to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affairs, Tariq Fatemi, has said that Pakistani military leadership was “unaware” of the U.S drone attack in Balochistan, which killed Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Mansour.
Family members of a taxi driver who lost his life in a drone strike by United States targeting Taliban leader have registered a First Information Report (FIR) against USA authorities, ARY News reported.
Khawaja Asif said the USA drone attack was not the failure of Pakistan’s foreign policy and these affected the efforts underway for establishing peace in Afghanistan.
“Despite long-voiced concern over civilian harm, and U.S. officials’ promises of greater transparency, the United States has clearly and consistently failed to account for and provide redress and compensation for civilian harm from these strikes” the Open Society report said.
The U.S. military does not anticipate any “significant changes on the battlefield in the short term”, said Brig.
“In order to show the world that they are not dead, Taliban will surge their attacks in the month of Ramadan”, said retired Afghan National Security General Wahid Taqat.
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An eight-minute Pashto language audio statement attributed to the Taliban’s new chief, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, says: “By God [anyone] who calls himself an Afghan, a Muslim, a mujahid [holy warrior] and a muhajir [literally refugee, but used here to mean one who leaves his land for the sake of Allah] will never bow before the infidels”.
