Taliban leader Mullah Mansour was killed because he posed an ‘imminent threat’, Pentagon says
Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a US drone strike because he represented a “specific imminent threat” to US and coalition forces in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said Monday.
“They were specific things that we knew he had engaged in or was preparing to engage in, that were were directly threatening coalition and US forces,” said Navy Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.
The United States and NATO official ended combat operations against the Taliban in December 2014. But their forces are still authorised to carry out “defensive” strikes against Taliban fighters who pose a direct threat to US or coalition troops.
In the Pentagon’s view, the operation against Mansour was strictly in keeping with the rules, and not a sign that the United States was re-engaging the group militarily.
“This is not a change in authorities at all, this is us continuing what we’ve been doing, which is conducting strikes of a defensive nature,” Davis said.