Dan De Luce and John Hudson, Chicago Tribune/Foreign Policy: Obama rolls the dice with killing of Taliban chief
The Obama administration's decision to kill Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour in his Pakistani sanctuary signals that the White House has given up on peace talks for the moment and is willing to roll the dice on trying to undercut the insurgency by decapitating its leadership.
The operation represented a break in the administration's approach to the war, as it had never launched a concerted effort to take out Taliban leaders based in Pakistan despite repeated pleas from Washington's allies in the Afghan government.
But with efforts to kick-start peace negotiations going nowhere and the Taliban not even bothering to show up for talks, President Barack Obama gave the green light for the U.S. military to launch its first-ever drone strike in the anarchic Pakistani region of Baluchistan. The rhetoric the U.S. Defense Department used to explain the strike was notable in its emphasis on the Taliban's chief diplomatic role rather than his military one: "Mansour has been an obstacle to peace and reconciliation between the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban, prohibiting Taliban leaders from participating in peace talks with the Afghan government."
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WNU Editor: I do not understand what is the Obama administration's end game by launching this drone strike. But if I was to guess .... it is to help precipitate a power struggle (and battle) within the Taliban itself on who would replace Mullah Mansour, and this internal battle would then divert attention and resources away from the war in Afghanistan itself.
1 comment:
Should have put boots on the ground in their Pakistan safe haven years ago.
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