The Hunt For Taliban Chief Mullah Omar Intensifies

Photo: Taliban chief Mullah Omar

Hunt For Taliban's Mullah Omar Takes On Urgency -- Washington Examiner

The Taliban can never be brought into the political process in Afghanistan as long as the group's fanatical leader is still a fugitive, top U.S. officials told The Washington Examiner.

With Osama bin Laden dead, finding and neutralizing Mullah Mohammed Omar, the reclusive leader who has headed the Taliban since the mid-1990s, has become a top priority for American military and intelligence officers. Mullah Omar's death would be as important to securing Afghanistan's future as killing bin Laden was to destabilizing al Qaeda, U.S. officials said.

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Update: Eliminating Mullah Omar ‘a Top U.S. Priority’ -- IBTimes

My Comment: This is a major shift in U.S. policy towards the leadership of the Taliban. In the past there was always a hope that the leadership of the Taliban could be co-opted into Afghanistan's political process .... that hope is obviously now gone. The Taliban leadership (like the leadership of Al Qaeda) are violent religious fanatics .... a realization that unfortunately has taken 10 years to realize.