Image copyright EPA Image caption Security has been stepped up within the aftermath of the killing of Mullah Abdul Manan Akhund
One Of the Taliban’s such a lot senior commanders has been killed in a US airstrike in Afghanistan.
Mullah Abdul Manan Akhund used to be the Taliban’s “governor” and military leader for the southern Helmand province.
He was killed in the Nawzad district of Helmand on Saturday night time, provincial officers said.
The Taliban stated his demise was a “prime loss” however it would not deter them of their efforts to take back regulate of Afghanistan.
But Afghan interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish advised the AFP information company his loss of life used to be a big blow to the Taliban and might “decrease the moral” of its warring parties in southern Afghanistan.
What’s lifelike under the Taliban? Militants ‘threaten 70% of Afghanistan’ Who’re the Taliban?
Helmand is the place British troops were based for 8 years sooner than floor troops had been withdrawn in 2014. Huge parts of the province at the moment are back beneath Taliban keep an eye on.
Media captionThe BBC used to be given uncommon get entry to to peer lifestyles below the Taliban in 2017
BBC analysis earlier this 12 months showed Taliban insurgents control more territory in the united states of america than at any time because 2014.
It is predicted that about 15 million people – part the inhabitants – are living in spaces which are either controlled by the Taliban or where its warring parties are overtly provide and regularly mount attacks.
However, there have been intense efforts to persuade the Taliban to start peace talks to finish the fighting. It sent delegates to a gathering in Russia last month to speak about the issue, however has refused to hold direct talks with the Afghan government.
Who’re the Taliban?
A hardline Islamic movement which swept to energy in Afghanistan in 1996 after the civil warfare which adopted the Soviet-Afghan warThey ruled Afghanistan till they had been ousted via the u.s.-led invasion five years laterIn power, they imposed a brutal version of Sharia legislation, corresponding to public executions and amputations, and banned girls from public lifeMen needed to grow beards and ladies to put on the all-protecting burka; tv, music and cinema had been bannedThey sheltered al-Qaeda leaders, including NINE/ELEVEN mastermind Osama Bin Encumbered
