Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour was killed when his vehicle was hit by a USA airstrike in a remote border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Afghanistan intelligence agency has said.
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“Mansour has been the leader of the Taliban and actively involved with planning attacks against facilities in Kabul and across Afghanistan, presenting a threat to Afghan civilians and security forces, our personnel, and coalition partners”, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in the statement. A senior commander of the Afghan Taliban confirmed on Sunday that the extremist group’s leader, Mullah Mohammad Akhtar Mansour, has been killed in a USA drone strike.
But nascent peace talks hosted by Pakistan only broke down previous year after the Afghan government revealed that supposed Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar had been dead since 2013.
“The US was telling us they will not target Taliban leaders while efforts are on to bring them to the negotiating table” for the peace talks, the official said.
Kabulov said that Moscow understands Pakistan’s protest of the United States’ actions as this violates the country’s sovereignty. However, the statement did not confirm Mullah Mansoor’s death.
Pakistani security officials told AFP yesterday that the man killed on Saturday in the southwestern province of Balochistan, believed at the time to be Mansour, had just returned from Iran when his vehicle was attacked.
“This information was shared with the prime minister and the chief of army staff after the drone strike”, the statement said.
Nicholson also met victims and families of people killed on October 3, 2015 when US warplanes mistakenly bombed a Kunduz hospital run by Doctors Without Borders during the offensive to retake Kunduz.
He said Mansoor “posed a continuing imminent threat” to USA personnel in Afghanistan, to Afghans and to peace.
The apparent death of Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a United States drone strike has caused a diplomatic row. “Following this, the Taliban leaders will live there with fear and they (Taliban) must realize that they are no longer safe in their hideouts and the one who rejects peace with the Afghan government will be killed, this indicates that the U.S policy toward Pakistan is now harsher and pressure has increased”, said Khalilzad. Mullah Abdul Rauf told The Associated Press on Sunday that Mansour died in the air strike late on Friday night.
Speaking in Hanoi Monday, Obama told reporters Mansur’s death sends a message that the us will protect its people.
US Secretary of State John Kerry says the targeting of the senior Afghan Taliban commander sends a clear message about the US commitment to Afghanistan.
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A Pakistani official in the area said a vehicle had been blown up and two unidentified people had been killed. The Taliban eventually released an audio recording, purportedly from Mansour, to dispel the reports.
