Akhtar Mohammad Mansur[a] (c. 1959 – 21 May 2016) was an Afghan militant who served as the secondsupreme leader of theTaliban from 2015 until his assassination in aUS drone strike inBalochistan, Pakistan in 2016. He was a close aide and successor of the Taliban's founding leader,Mullah Omar.
United StatespresidentBarack Obama stated that Mansur was killed because he was planning attacks on US targets inKabul.[18] Obama hoped Mansur's death would lead to the Taliban joining apeace process.[19]
Mansur was born inc. 1959.[12][13][14][15] According to the Taliban, he is thought to have been born either in a village named Kariz or another village named Band-i-Taimoor, both of which are situated within theMaiwand District ofKandahar Province in southernAfghanistan. The biography released on a Taliban website showed his date of birth as 1347 in thesolar Hijri calendar, which corresponds to 1968. This year is corroborated by S. Mehsud, of the C.T.C.West Point. According toAhmed Rashid, Mansur belonged to theAlizai tribe, but other sources claim that he was of theIshaqzai tribe,[note 2] in any case, both the Alizai and the Ishaqzai are of theDurrani line ofPashtuns. According to the Taliban, Mansoor was educated at a villagemosque and joined primary school at about the age of seven.[12][13][14][15][17][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][excessive citations]
Mansur is alleged to have owned a cell-phone company, among other investments, and is claimed to have been wealthy as a result of his profiting from the dealings of Ishaqzai drug dealers. According to Richard Spencer ofThe Daily Telegraph, Mansur performed his business operations via a residence located inDubai.[27][2]
An undamagedPakistani passport in the name of "Wali Muhammad" was recovered near the burned-out car at the scene of the drone attack that killed him; the passport is believed to have belonged to Mansur.[18]
Sometime in 1985, he joined thejihadi war against theSoviet invasion of Afghanistan, participating in theMohammad Nabi Mohammadi group. During the same timeMohammad Omar was a commander of an organization within Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi. Mansur participated in the war against theSoviet military withinMaiwand, Sang-e-Hessar, Zangawat and other parts of the city, and thePashmul area of the Panjwai district, under the command of Mohammad Hassan Akhond, apparently commanded by him at least while fighting at the last location. During 1987 he was apparently injured, sustaining 13 separate wounds while stationed at Sanzary area of Panjwai district in Kandahar, according to the Taliban. Known as one of the prominent warriors, Mansur joined the Maulvi Obaidullah Ishaqzai group in 1987 but later Ishaqzai surrendered toNur ul-Haq Ulumi, now the interior minister. Soon afterwards, he migrated toQuetta in Pakistan.[15][20]
After the war, Mansur resumed his religious education in different seminaries and later shifted toPeshawar, Pakistan, where he joined Jamia Mohammadia at theJalozai Refugee camp. He was a student atDarul Uloom Haqqaniamadrassa. He was apparently a popular student, during his time at the madrassa from 1994 to 1995, located within the Jalozai refugee camp for Afghans near Peshawar, according to Afghan journalist Sami Yousafzai, who met him during that time.[14][15][25]
After the capture ofKandahar airport he was appointed as director general, or otherwise termed, security officer in charge, of the Kandahar airport, a role which encompassed both the air force andair-defence systems ofKandahar. After the taking ofKabul during 1996 he was made director ofAriana airlines, and additionally Minister of the Emirate foraviation andtourism, byMohammed Omar, within the Taliban'sIslamic Emirate of Afghanistan, together with his overseeing the Emirates' air force and air-defence systems, from his additional appointment as head of these within the ministry of defence. Notably, while minister, Mansur organized 24-hour flight services within Afghanistan, thereby organizing the provision of facilities forMuslims to go toMecca asHajj via air-flight. During 1996, Mullah Omar appointed Farid Ahmed to station manager of Ariana airlines.[20][28][29][30][2][31]
During 1997, when the Taliban tried unsuccessfully to capture the northern city ofMazar-e-Sharif, Mansur was captured by anUzbek warlord. For two months he remained there as aprisoner of war, before Mohammed Omar negotiated his release in a prisoner swap.[32][better source needed]
During 1998, the Mullah visited Frankfurt, Germany, and Prague, Czech Republic, during a 25-day trip visit to the unofficial envoy to Europe at the time, Mullah Nek Muhammad:[33]
He came to Germany to purchase airport equipment, parts for airliners and military choppers for the Taliban air force
— Mullah Nek Muhammad, as reported by S. Yousafzai
After the conclusion of thehijacking ofIndian Airlines Flight 814, Mansur was reported, by Anand Arni, a former officer with the Indian organisationResearch & Analysis Wing, as being seen embracingMaulana Masood Azhar, the then leader ofJaish-e-Mohammed.[34][35]
In 2001, he surrendered to the Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai to ask for amnesty. He was forgiven after which he returned to his home district. However, American forces, refusing to believe he and other senior Taliban commanders had given up fighting, conducted a series of night raids to capture him after which he fled to Pakistan, where he helped to shape the Taliban as aninsurgent organisation.[24]
Mullah Mansur was appointed asshadow governor of Kandahar, from sometime after 2001, until May 2007.[29][36][37]
In a previouslysecret state communication of the U.S. government in 2006, Akhtar Mansur was listed as the 23rd member of the Taliban (with the late Mohammed Omar as the first member).[38]
According to leaked material, Mansur attended a meeting dated 24 August 2007 with other senior Taliban officials, so that he and those others present might discuss and organize a potential suicide bombing and bombing campaign upon the areas ofKandahar and theHelmand Province, and also particularly focused on killingAhmad Wali Karzai andHamid Karzai.[2]
The council of the Taliban appointed him as deputy to the newly appointedMullah Abdul Ghani Baradar during 2007, theIndian Express reported Akthar Mansur as appointed to the Taliban'sQuetta Shura (council for political and military matters and affairs), sometime during 2007, while withinQuetta. One source gives Mansur as being appointed deputy to Mohammed Omar during 2010; another source states him to have been "by some accounts" the second most senior member of the Taliban behind Mohammed Omar, during 2010. A contradictory report states his appointment occurred during 2013 after Abdul Ghani Baradar, the then deputy, was jailed. A source claims to know of Akther Mansur having a "direct influence" over military units operating withinKhost,Paktia andPaktika, at a time after his appointment to the Council of the Taliban.[29][30][34][39][40]
In a communique published 29 November 2011, the Mullah was identified with the reference number TI.M.11.01. as an individual associated with the Taliban and accordingly was made pursuant to sanctions, as of 25 January 2001, and those sanctioned were to have any available assets frozen, to be banned from traveling and to be subject to an arms embargo.[28]
Wahid Muzhda is quoted as saying of Mansur:[40][41]
in 2013 he convinced other Taliban leaders to open the group's political office in Qatar to initiate negotiations with the West.
a fact which is corroborated by an additional report, which states the office was inDoha,Qatar.[citation needed]
According to a 2014 report, Mansur, together withAbdul Qayum Zakir andGul Agha Ishakzai, were involved in fighting over control of a majoropium-producing area (land of Maiwand District) against a co-founder of the Taliban movement,Abdul Ghani Baradar.[42][43]
An article published on 12 March 2015 said Mansur and Abdul Qayum Zakir, who were long-term rivals, had met together in order to find an agreement and at the meeting had slaughtered sheep for a feast. The article stated Mansur was in favour of initiating so-called talks with Afghani government officials at the time, but was unable to make any progress in his own direction due to opposition from Zakir to the opening of a dialogue with the Afghan government.[44]
According to one report, dated 17 March 2015, Mansur was at that time deputyamir al-mu'minin, military leader and head of theshura of Quetta.[45]
Mansur wrote a letter toAbu Bakr al-Baghdadi, on behalf of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, released on 16 June 2015, to express his concerns of the potential for a negative influence ofISIS upon Afghan Talibans' progress, since ISIS activities might pose a risk of causing "multiplicity" within forces of the jihad of Afghanistan. The letter, appealing to the unity of "religious brotherhood", requests al-Baghdadi might extend "goodwill" to the Taliban, which "doesn't want to see interference in its affairs". The letter was written inPashto and released within theVoice of Jihad site.[36][46][47]
Additionally, the letter shows Mansur considered the late (Sheikhs)Abdullah Azzam andOsama bin Laden, the lateAbu Musab al Zarqawi andIbn al-Khattab, to be heroes. In addition the letter expresses recognition of the support to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, of "famous religious scholars", of these he provides (Sheikh)Hamud bin Uqla al Shuaybi as an example.[36]
Akhtar Mansur was elected leader of the Taliban organisation on 29 July 2015. The results were announced on Thursday 30 July.[37][48][49]
Taliban splinter groupFidai Mahaz claimedMohammed Omar was assassinated in a coup led by Akhtar Mansur and Gul Agha.Mansoor Dadullah, a Taliban commander and the brother of former senior commanderDadullah, also claimed that Omar had been assassinated.Mohammad Yaqoob, Omar's eldest son, denied that his father had been killed, insisting that he died of natural causes. A Taliban communique published 30 July 2015 said that Omar had died in hospital.[50][51][52][53][54]
Mullah Mansur is said to have "closely kept the secret that Mullah Omar had been dead" despite the leaking of a report of Omar's death in 2013.[2][27]
Some Taliban members considered Mansur's selection as leader to be invalid because not all Taliban were involved in the decision. Other senior Taliban commanders and officials wanted Omar's son Yaqoob as leader. Yaqoob was said to have been supported by his father's younger brother Abdul Manan, and former Taliban military chiefAbdul Qayyum Zakir. The head of the Talibans' political office in Qatar,Tayyab Agha, also opposed the selection of Mansur as leader. However, a statement allegedly from Zakir denied he had any conflict with Mansur. Yaqoob is known to have publicly rejected the appointment of Mansur.[55][56][57][58][59][60]
Mansur announced one of his deputies to beSirajuddin Haqqani.[26]
Mansur is thought to have had dealings of some kind with the PakistaniInter-Services Intelligence.[2]
On 13 August 2015, al-Qaeda's media wingAs-Sahab issued a pledge of allegiance fromAyman al-Zawahiri to Mansur.[61]
Sometime in August, Mansur sent a delegation to meetings with officials of the Afghan government, which was subsequently "hailed as a breakthrough".[62]
ASecurity Council report, dated to the immediate September after Mansur's inauguration, showed he, as the new leader, was unwilling to engage in negotiations for the purposes of assuring peace.[28]
TheBrookings Institution reported that Mansur referred to his own leadership asCommander of the faithful, a translation ofAmir al-Mu'minin. A separate source states Mansur used this particular title to refer to his role as leader of jihad. Mansur was, according toRAND corporation, and elsewhere, leading a jihad (i.e. aninsurgent force) limited to concerns orientated only to within Afghanistan, and not elsewhere.[63][64][65]
According to a report published on 5 November 2015, Mansur stated his opinion that modern education was a "necessity".[66]
Mansur released his first communication as leader of the Taliban on 1 August 2015 as part of a 30-minute (or 33-minute, according toAl Jazeera) video release:[37][55][67]
... We should all work to preserve unity, division in our ranks will only please our enemies, and cause further problems for us ...Our goal and slogan is to implement sharia and an Islamic system, and our jihad will continue until this is done ...
Mansur stated his position with regards to peace talks; the suggestion of his being willing to engage in peace talks as "enemy propaganda".[68]
The website of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan published a biography of Mansur when he became Emir.[69]
On 21 May 2016, Mansur was killed in a U.S. military drone strike on theN-40 National Highway in Pakistan[70] nearAhmad Wal, not far from the Pakistan–Afghanistan border; Mansur had crossed earlier that day from Iran into Pakistan through theTaftan, Balochistan border crossing, some 450 kilometres (280 mi) away from the spot where he was killed.[71][72][73] Mansur was being driven toQuetta, after a long stay in Iran,[74][70] reportedly to both visit family and seek medical treatment.[73] The CIA had learned of Mansour's location via electronic intercepts,[70] and the movements of his vehicle were tracked usingsignals intelligence provided by the NSA.[70] Mansur had crossed into Pakistan posing as a Pakistani citizen, using forged identity documents (aPakistani passport and national ID card under the name "Muhammad Wali.")[73] The false passport showed that Mansur had entered Iran on 28 March.[71] Mansour and his taxi driver were both killed in the strike[73][75] against theToyota Corolla, which was struck by twoHellfire missiles launched byReaper drones.[70]
The following day, U.S. Secretary of StateJohn Kerry announced that the United States had "conducted a precision airstrike that targeted Taliban leader Mullah Mansour in a remote area of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border" against Mansur that had likely killed him, and stated that Mansur "posed a continuing, imminent threat" to U.S. personnel and Afghans.[76] Kerry said that the leaders of both Pakistan and Afghanistan were made aware of the airstrike but did not comment on the timing of the notifications, which he said included a telephone call from him toPakistani Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif.[76] The Pakistani government later said it was notified of the strike seven hours after it took place.[70] On 23 May 2016, U.S. PresidentBarack Obama confirmed that Mansur had been killed in the American airstrike that he had sanctioned, and stated that Mansur had been planning attacks against U.S. targets inKabul.[18] Obama stated afterwards that he had hoped Mansur's death would lead to the Taliban joining a peace process.[19][77] The death of Mansur was also later officially confirmed separately by the Afghan government and members of the Taliban.[71][18]
The U.S. government agencies involved reportedly agreed that officials were to be vague about identifying the location of the strike, beyond saying it took place in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.[70][78] The strike that killed Mansur was a rare instance of a U.S. drone strike inBalochistan; U.S. strikes in Pakistan were more generally limited to theFederally Administered Tribal Areas.[70]
Two senior members of the Taliban said that Pakistani authorities had delivered Mansur's badly burned body to the Taliban for its burial inQuetta, Balochistan. Pakistani officials, however, denied handing over a body.[18] Mansur's body was later handed over to his relatives in Afghanistan.[16]
Mansur was succeeded as Taliban leader byHibatullah Akhundzada.[79]
Some U.S. officials had been divided over Mansur's intentions.[70] Some believed that Mansur could have brought the Taliban to the negotiating table, potentially speeding up the reconciliation process; others, by contrast, "were highly skeptical of Mansour's commitment to talks," noting that Mansur had a long history of authorizingsuicide attacks, including in the weeks before the drone strike (such as theApril 2016 Kabul attack, which killed more than 60 people), and that even as Mansur was agreeing to secret direct peace negotiations, he had rejected international peace efforts.[70][75][80][81][82][83] According to theInternational Institute for Counter-Terrorism, U.S. officials stated that Mullah Mansur's death was "unavoidable" due to the then Emir being unwilling to engage in peace talks.[84][85][86]
The following is a list of reported information:
...and they resent the power now wielded by the Alizai Pashtun tribe to which Mansoor belongs
Indian intelligence officials allege Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, the newly-appointed chief of the Afghan Taliban, might possibly have played a role in the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 during 1999
How and why the United States came to kill a man that some officials believed could bring the Taliban to the negotiating table reveals unresolved questions that have plagued the war
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | – In exile – SecondDeputy Leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan 2007–2010 withAbdul Ghani Baradar Served under:Mullah Omar | Vacant Title next held by Sirajuddin Haqqani(2015) |
| Preceded by | – In exile – FirstDeputy Leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan 2010–2015 Served under:Mullah Omar | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | – In exile – Supreme Leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan 2015–2016 Acting: 2013–2015 | |
