Taliban leader’s death a ‘milestone’ for Afghan peace

Obama says no apology for A-bomb on Hiroshima visit

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) – President Barack Obama said Monday that the violent death of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Akhtar Mansour by a US airstrike should send a “clear signal’’ to anti-American extremists that “we’re going to protect our people.’’

Obama also said Mansour’s death was an “important milestone’’ in the years long effort to bring peace to Afghanistan.

“It has been confirmed that he is dead,’’ Obama said Monday during his first visit to Vietnam. “He is an individual who, as head of the Taliban, was specifically targeting US personnel and troops inside of Afghanistan’’ who Obama sent there to help counter terrorism and help train Afghan troops.

Mansour was killed when a U.S. drone fired on his vehicle in the southwestern Pakistan province of Baluchistan, though it was unclear whether the airstrike took place on Friday or Saturday. He had emerged as the successor to Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar, whose 2013 death was only revealed last year.

Obama authorized the attack and was briefed before and after it was carried out, aides said.

Speaking at a news conference following his meeting with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang, Obama said the fatal attack on Mansour did not represent a change in US military strategy in Afghanistan, which is to help train Afghan forces. Obama ended the US combat mission in Afghanistan in 2014.

“We are not re-entering the day-to-day combat operations that are currently being conducted by Afghan security forces,’’ Obama said. “Our job is to help Afghanistan secure its own country, not to have our men and women in uniform engage in that fight for them.’’

“On the other hand, where we have a high-profile leader who has been consistently part of plans and operations to potentially harm US personnel and who has been resistant to the kinds of peace talks and reconciliation that ultimately could bring an end to decades of war in Afghanistan, then it is my responsibility as commander in chief not to stand by, but to make sure that we send a clear signal to the Taliban and others that we’re going to protect our people.

TOKYO (AFP) – Barack Obama will not apologize for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima when he this week becomes the first sitting US president to visit the city, he told Japanese television.

The comments are the clearest yet from his administration over an issue that raises hackles in the United States and has been the subject of heated debate for decades.

Asked if an apology would be included in remarks he plans to make, he said: ‘’No, because I think that it’s important to recognize that in the midst of war, leaders make all kinds of decisions.

‘’It’s a job of historians to ask questions and examine them, but I know as somebody who has now sat in this position for the last seven and a half years, that every leader makes very difficult decisions, particularly during war time.’’

American airmen launched the world’s first atomic strike on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, causing the deaths of about 140,000 people.

Tens of thousands were killed by the fireball that the powerful nuclear blast generated, with many more succumbing to injuries or illnesses caused by radiation in the weeks, months and years afterwards.

The southern city of Nagasaki was hit by a second bomb three days later, killing 74,000 people, in one of the final acts of World War II.

Obama travelled to Vietnam at the weekend and is due in Japan later this week. He will visit Hiroshima after attending the Group of Seven summit hosted by Japan.

‘’My purpose is not to simply revisit the past, but to affirm that innocent people die in a war, on all sides, that we should do everything we can to try to promote peace and dialogue around the world, that we should continue to strive for a world without nuclear weapons,’’ Obama said in the interview with NHK, aired Sunday.

US officials have consistently said in the weeks leading up to the visit that there would be no apology.

Obama’s upcoming visit has reignited an emotive debate over former US president Harry Truman’s epoch-making decision to drop the atomic bombs.