The purported site of the drone strike in the Ahmad Wal area of Balochistan in Pakistan. BBC
The Guardian: Death of Mullah Akhtar Mansoor likely to enrage Pakistan
The US drone attack on the Taliban chief marks an extraordinary escalation of a campaign that has been a running sore in relations.
On Wednesday, Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan’s de facto foreign minister, told a gathering of top diplomats from Afghanistan, the US and China that the 2015 leak of news that former Taliban leader Mullah Omar had been dead for more than two years “not only scuttled the Afghan peace process, it also let to the splintering of the Taliban”.
Days later a US drone fired a missile at Omar’s successor, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, as he travelled in the southern Pakistan province of Balochistan.
The attack, which the Taliban have confirmed killed Mansoor, marks an extraordinary escalation of a drone campaign that appeared to be winding down and has in the past been a running sore in US-Pakistani relations.
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WNU Editor: There has been no official Pakistani reaction to the death of Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor. My guess is that they are still trying to confirm his death. But if he has been killed it will be a blow to Pakistani efforts to keep the Taliban from splintering apart. And while the presumptive replacement does have long ties with Pakistan's intelligence services .... Is This The Next Leader For The Afghan Taliban? .... this group's influence does not extend to the southern part of the country where the insurgency is raging. Bottom line .... the Pakistanis are going to be angry over this attack, but also concerned on what this shift in U.S. policy will mean (i.e. now directly targeting the leadership of the Taliban).
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