Akhtar Mohammad Mansur (21 May 2016) was an Afghan militant who served as the second supreme leader of the Taliban from 2015 until his assassination in a US drone strike in Balochistan, Pakistan in 2016. He was a close aide and successor of the Taliban's founding leader, Mullah Omar.
United States president Barack Obama stated that Mansur was killed because he was planning attacks on US targets in Kabul. Obama hoped Mansur's death would lead to the Taliban joining a peace process.
Personal life
Mansur was born in . 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 the Maiwand District of Kandahar Province in southern Afghanistan. The biography released on a Taliban website showed his date of birth as 1347 in the solar Hijri calendar, which corresponds to 1968. This year is corroborated by S. Mehsud, of the C.T.C. West Point. According to Ahmed Rashid, Mansur belonged to the Alizai tribe, but other sources claim that he was of the Ishaqzai tribe,The other sources are: Qazi, Giustozzi;
c.f. also M. Martin – text (p.145) published by Oxford University Press, 1 July 2014, The Diplomat Magazine August 12, 2015 – Kambaiz Rafi "...Mansour's swiftly appointed first deputy, Mawlawi Haibatullah, is from his Ishaqzai tribe, enraging Zakir who belongs to the staunchly rival Alizai tribe..." in any case, both the Alizai and the Ishaqzai are of the Durrani line of Pashtuns. According to the Taliban, Mansoor was educated at a village mosque and joined primary school at about the age of seven.(sourced originally at J. Goldstein / The New York Times Company)Giustozzi – article published by the Tribal Analysis Centre November 2009 [Retrieved 2 November 2015]
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 of The Daily Telegraph, Mansur performed his business operations via a residence located in Dubai.
An undamaged Pakistani 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.
Soviet war and mujahideen era
Sometime in 1985, he joined the jihadi war against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, participating in the Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi group. During the same time Mohammad Omar was a commander of an organization within Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi. Mansur participated in the war against the Soviet military within Maiwand, Sang-e-Hessar, Zangawat and other parts of the city, and the Pashmul 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 to Nur ul-Haq Ulumi, now the interior minister. Soon afterwards, he migrated to Quetta in Pakistan.
After the war, Mansur resumed his religious education in different seminaries and later shifted to Peshawar, Pakistan, where he joined Jamia Mohammadia at the Jalozai Refugee camp. He was a student at Darul Uloom Haqqania madrassa. 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.
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan After the capture of Kandahar 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 and air-defence systems of Kandahar. After the taking of Kabul during 1996 he was made director of Ariana airlines, and additionally Minister of the Emirate for aviation and tourism, by Mohammed Omar, within the Taliban's Islamic 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 for Muslims to go to Mecca as Hajj via air-flight. During 1996, Mullah Omar appointed Farid Ahmed to station manager of Ariana airlines.Douglas Farah & Stephen Braun, Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible, John Wiley & Sons, 2007, .
During 1997, when the Taliban tried unsuccessfully to capture the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, Mansur was captured by an Uzbek warlord. For two months he remained there as a prisoner of war, before Mohammed Omar negotiated his release in a prisoner swap.
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:
After the conclusion of the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814, Mansur was reported, by Anand Arni, a former officer with the Indian organisation Research & Analysis Wing, as being seen embracing Maulana Masood Azhar, the then leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed.
In 2001, he surrendered to the Afghan President Hamid 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 an insurgent organisation.
Mullah Mansur was appointed as shadow governor of Kandahar, from sometime after 2001, until May 2007.
In a previously secret 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).
2007 and later Quetta Shura and Taliban insurgency
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 of Kandahar and the Helmand Province, and also particularly focused on killing Ahmad Wali Karzai and Hamid Karzai.
The council of the Taliban appointed him as deputy to the newly appointed Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar during 2007, the Indian Express reported Akthar Mansur as appointed to the Taliban's Quetta Shura (council for political and military matters and affairs), sometime during 2007, while within Quetta. 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 within Khost, Paktia and Paktika, at a time after his appointment to the Council of the Taliban.D. Filkins and C. Gall – Taliban Leader in Secret Talks Was an Impostor published originally by The New York Times 22 November 2010 (re-published by Afghanhistan News Centre (Ruhullah Khapalwak) [Retrieved 4 August 2015]
2011 Listed by the United Nations for sanctioning 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.
2013 – June 2015 Wahid Muzhda is quoted as saying of Mansur:
A fact which is corroborated by an additional report, which states the office was in Doha, Qatar.
According to a 2014 report, Mansur, together with Abdul Qayum Zakir and Gul Agha Ishakzai, were involved in fighting over control of a major opium-producing area (land of Maiwand District) against a co-founder of the Taliban movement, Abdul Ghani Baradar.(page 12)
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.
According to one report, dated 17 March 2015, Mansur was at that time deputy amir al-mu'minin, military leader and head of the shura of Quetta.T. Ruttig – article published 17 March 2015 by the Afghanistan Analysts Network [Retrieved 6 November 2015]
Mansur wrote a letter to Abu 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 of ISIS 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 in Pashto and released within the Voice of Jihad site.M. Mashal and T. Shah – article published 6 September 2015 by The New York Times Company [Retrieved 5 November 2015]
Additionally, the letter shows Mansur considered the late (Sheikhs) Abdullah Azzam and Osama bin Laden, the late Abu Musab al Zarqawi and Ibn 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.
July 2015 – May 2016 Leader of the Taliban
Akhtar Mansur was elected leader of the Taliban organisation on 29 July 2015. The results were announced on Thursday 30 July.original source / translated source – published by Deutsche Well Persian of (Deutsche Welle) [Retrieved 8 November 2015]
Internal dissent Taliban splinter group Fidai Mahaz claimed Mohammed Omar was assassinated in a coup led by Akhtar Mansur and Gul Agha. Mansoor Dadullah, a Taliban commander and the brother of former senior commander Dadullah, 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.S.E. Rasmussen – article published by The Guardian newspaper [Retrieved 2 November 2015]
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.
Dissension 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 chief Abdul 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.
Features of Mansur's leadership Mansur announced one of his deputies to be Sirajuddin Haqqani.