Afghan leaders praise assassination of Taliban leader

KABUL — The killing of Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Akhtar Mansour in a U.S. drone strike was greeted Sunday by Kabul’s political leadership as a game-changer in efforts to end the long insurgent war plaguing Afghanistan.

In a rare show of unity, President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah both welcomed the news of Mansour’s death as the removal of a man who unleashed violence against innocent civilians in Afghanistan and was widely regarded as an obstacle to peace within the militant group.

Mansour, believed to be in his 50s, was killed when a U.S. drone fired on his vehicle in the southwestern Pakistan province of Baluchistan, although there were conflicting accounts whether the air strike occurred Friday or Saturday.

Afghan and U.S. officials have repeatedly accused Pakistan’s ISI intelligence agency of keeping the Taliban leadership safe in cities across the porous and lawless border.