ASHINGTON: A US air strike has killed Afghan Taliban
leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a remote area along the Pak-Afghan border, the
Pentagon announced late on Saturday night. “Today, the US Department of
Defence conducted a precision air strike, targeting Mullah Mansour in a remote
area in the Pakistan-Afghan border region,” said Pentagon Press Secretary Peter
Cook. He said the president of the United States had authorised the air strike
and that Pakistan and Afghanistan were both notified of it. “Mullah Mansour was
the leader of the Afghan Taliban and presented a continuing threat to our
personnel in Afghanistan and to Afghan civilians, Afghan security forces and
coalition members across Afghanistan.” The US official noted that Mullah
Mansour was an obstacle to reconciliation between the Afghan government and the
Taliban and was prohibiting the Taliban leaders from participating in peace
talks with the government that could lead to an end to the Afghan conflict. The
Pentagon said that since the death of Mullah Omar and Mullah Mansour’s
assumption of leadership, the Taliban had conducted many attacks that resulted
in the deaths of thousands of Afghan civilians and security forces as well as
numerous US and coalition personnel.
