U.S. Drone Strike in Pakistan Kills Afghan Taliban Leader

nsnbc : The Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour has been killed in a U.S. air strike carried out on Pakistani territory. Pakistan asks for an explanation. The killing comes only days after a meeting of the Quadrennial Coordination Group (QCG) in Islamabad.

Mullah Akhtar Mansour_Taliban_AfghanistanPakistan’s Foreign Ministry, on Sunday, announced that the Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour had been killed in a drone strike, carried out by the United States, in Pakistan.

The Foreign Ministry announced that it is seeking clarification from the United States. Foreign Ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria stressed that the killing happened as Pakistan is attempting to get the Taliban back to the negotiating table.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, for his part, claimed that Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was notified of the air strike which took place earlier. Kerry did not want to specify whether Sharif was notified before or after the fact.

The extrajudicial assassination of Mansour was carried out only days after a meeting of the Quadrennial Coordination Group (QCG) in Islamabad. Top Diplomats from Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and the United States of America met on May 18. The group discussed possibilities to start peace talks between the belligerent and other parties that are involved in the war in Afghanistan. The last meeting of the QCG was held in February and an invitation to participate in the QCG meeting in March was extended to the Taliban.

Afghanistan’s Ambassador in Islamabad, Omar Zakhilwal, for his part, said prior to the meeting that Kabul now calls on the QCG to pronounce the Taliban as “irreconcilable because they have publicly rejected the talks in February and launched a terrorist campaign. Zakhilwal added that the QCG in its meeting in Kabul had agreed on a roadmap in February and that Kabul hopes the grouping will implement its decisions.

A Taliban delegation of political negotiators from the Taliban’s official office in Qatar had arrived in Pakistan in late April for exploratory talks on a possible peace process. However, the Afghan government refused to sit with the Taliban in the wake up of increased Taliban violence.

F/AK – nsnbc 22.05.2016

Source Article from http://nsnbc.me/2016/05/22/u-s-drone-strike-in-pakistan-kills-afghan-taliban-leader/

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