President Obama announced that Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour had been killed in a Drone strike in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province near the Pakistan-Afghan border. He did not clarify the confusion created by earlier telephone calls to Pakistani officials whether Pakistan had been informed before the strike or after it. Not everyone readily believed the President because Pakistan did not confirm that Mullah Mansour had been killed pending the result of DNA tests underway. There was also the matter of an earlier announcement by President Obama that Raymond Davis was a US diplomat whereas he was actually a two bit CIA contractor. Before that President Obama’s predecessor had declared from an aircraft carrier that the war on terror was over and that the US had won. This time, however, Afghanistan dutifully chimed in with a confirmation of the US claim and there were reports of the Taliban having started the process of choosing Mullah Mansour’s successor and confirming that he is indeed dead. Chances are that Wali Mohammad, the man killed and identified from his ID documents, was indeed Mullah Mansour — the US did not opt for DNA confirmation probably because of the OBL raid fallout that had exposed collaborators. If the rumors of Mullah Mansour’s family being in Iran are true then there may have been covert and undisclosed DNA testing there. It is important to note that this attack signifies a shift in US’ Afghanistan policy following President Obama’s hint previously of more drone attacks in future. This could also be the start of a new strategy of a US drone campaign against the Taliban in Baluchistan, which could push Taliban leaders to relocate back to Afghanistan or elsewhere in Pakistan.
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