Taliban leader killed in US drone strike

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Afghan government and a senior Taliban commander confirmed Sunday that the extremist group's leader, Mullah Mohammed Akhtar Mansour, has been killed in a U.S. drone strike.

Mullah Abdul Rauf, who recently reconciled with Mansour after initially rebelling against his ascension to the leadership, told The Associated Press that Mansour died in the strike late Friday "in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area."

Mansour, he said "posed a continuing imminent threat to U.S. personnel in Afghanistan, Afghan civilians, Afghan security forces" and members of the U.S./NATO coalition.

Speaking live on television as he chaired a Cabinet meeting, Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said Mansour's death would have a positive impact on attempts to bring peace to Afghanistan, where the Taliban have been waging an insurgency for 15 years.

Mansour's death has raised questions about the direction the Taliban will take, after Ghani last month sharply changed course from pursuing peace to blaming Islamabad for using the Taliban to wage war on Afghanistan.

A senior Afghan official, who also spoke only on condition of anonymity, said Mansour controlled a substantial financial empire, largely built on smuggling drugs produced in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province.