Topic summary
Killing of Akhtar Mansur
United States
TalibanJohn Kerry
3 killed
- Akhtar Mansur
- Mansur's taxi driver
- Unknown identity
On 21 May 2016, Akhtar Mansur, the second leader of the Taliban, was killed in a U.S. military drone strike on the N-40 National Highway in Pakistan near Ahmad Wal, not far from the Pakistan–Afghanistan border; Mansur had crossed earlier that day from Iran into Pakistan through the Taftan, Balochistan, border crossing, some 450 kilometres (280 mi) away from the spot where he was killed.
The following day, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced that the United States had "conducted a precision airstrike that targeted Taliban leader Mullah Mansur 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.
On 23 May 2016, U.S. President Barack 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 in Kabul. Obama stated afterwards that he had hoped Mansur's death would lead to the Taliban joining a peace process. The death of Mansur was also later officially confirmed separately by the Afghan government and members of the Taliban.