Pakistan accused the United States (US) on Sunday of violating its sovereignty with a drone strike against the leader of the Afghan Taliban, in perhaps the most high-profile US incursion into Pakistani territory since the 2011 raid to kill Osama bin Laden.
Afghanistan said the attack killed Mullah Akhtar Mansour, which, if confirmed, could trigger a succession battle within an insurgency that has proved resilient despite a decade and a half of US military deployments to Afghanistan.
Afghan guerrilla commander Sirajuddin Haqqani, a possible successor to Mansour, would likely prove an even more implacable foe of Afghan government forces and their US allies.
Still, the Saturday drone strike, which US officials said was authorised by President Barack Obama, showed the United States was prepared to go after the Taliban leadership in Pakistan, which the government in Kabul has repeatedly accused of sheltering the insurgents.
Pakistan protested on Sunday, saying the US government did not inform Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif beforehand. "This is a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty," Sharif told reporters in London.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that Washington only notified Pakistan after the strike. It was unclear how long Mansour might have been inside Pakistan before the strike. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry disclosed that a passport found at the site of the strike, bearing a different name, carried a valid Iranian visa.
It added that the purported passport holder was believed to have returned to Pakistan from Iran on Saturday, the day of the drone strike targeting Mansour. Photos of the passport, bearing the name Wali Muhammad, seen by showed a passing resemblance to some of the old photos available of Mansour. If it is confirmed that Mansour had travelled to Iran before his death, it would raise new questions about the Taliban's use of neighbouring territories, including Iran.
'Killed in a drone strike'
"Taliban leader Akhtar Mansour was killed in a drone strike ... His car was attacked in Dahl Bandin," Abdullah said in a post on Twitter, referring to a district in Pakistan's Baluchistan province just over the border with Afghanistan. The Taliban have made no official statement, but two Taliban sources said the Rahbari Shura, or leadership council, met on Sunday to begin considering the succession, a move that strongly suggested they accept that he is dead.
They considered Haqqani, seen by supporters as a strong leader who would defy the US and Afghan governments, and Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, the son of Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar, a potential unifier because of his father's name, as well as former Guantanamo detainee Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir and Mullah Sherin.
The meeting was expected to continue on Monday and naming a new leader could take days or weeks, the sources said. "Based purely on matters of hierarchy, (Haqqani) would be the favourite to succeed Mansour," said Michael Kugelman, a senior associate at the Woodrow Wilson Institute think tank.
