U.S. airstrike kills Taliban leader in Afghanistan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The Taliban’s most senior commander in southern Afghanistan was killed in a U.S. airstrike, the insurgent group and Afghan and U.S. officials said Sunday.

The commander, Mullah Abdul Manan, had orchestrated the insurgents’ campaign to take over much of Helmand province. He was also believed to be a key figure in developing the Taliban’s special forces, the Red Unit, which have carried out deadly attacks across the country.

The Taliban described the death of Mullah Manan, who was born Mullah Mohammad Rahim, as a great loss, but insisted that it would not affect the group’s momentum.

“The Taliban should consider intensifying peace talks, not the fight,” Sgt. 1st Class Debra Richardson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said, confirming that Mullah Manan had been killed by a U.S. airstrike.

“They’re going to have trouble intensifying the fight when their fighters and leaders are under constant assault. Peace talks are the only solution,” she added.

Bashir Ahmad Shakir, who until recently was the head of the security committee at Helmand’s provincial council, described Mullah Manan as a “fighting machine.”

“He was a tough and a good manager of the battlefield,” Shakir said. “I remember there were times where he would engage the Afghan forces in 12 different places in Helmand simultaneously.”

Mullah Manan’s death comes as the Taliban are pushing for further gains in the south, following the assassination of the general leading the government’s defenses there. Gen. Abdul Raziq, police chief of Kandahar province and a major anti-Taliban bulwark, was gunned down in an attack last month that barely missed the top U.S. commander, Gen. Austin S. Miller.