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US: Taliban Chief Planned To Target Americans

US: Taliban Chief Planned To Target Americans

Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Akhtar Mansour was plotting a fresh wave of attacks on American targets in Afghanistan, the US has said.

President Barack Obama authorised the drone strike that killed him on Saturday because the Afghan Taliban chief was overseeing plans to specifically target US personnel and troops assisting and training the country's armed forces.

He posed "specific imminent threats" to both US and coalition forces in Kabul, the Afghan capital, said Navy Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.

Mr Obama said Mansour's death should send a "clear signal" to extremists intent on harming US forces that "we're going to protect our people".

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Confirming Mansour's death while on a three-day visit to Vietnam, he called the deadly strike "an important milestone".

"The Taliban should seize the opportunity to pursue the only real path for ending this long conflict - joining the Afghan government in a reconciliation process that leads to lasting peace and stability," he said.

Mansour was killed when multiple US drones fired on his vehicle in the southwestern Pakistan province of Baluchistan on Saturday.

His death, which was later confirmed by a senior Taliban commander, could have implications for stalled peace negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government.

Mansour was appointed leader of the Taliban in July 2015 following the revelation that the group's founder, Mullah Omar, had been dead for two years.

Afghan guerrilla commander Sirajuddin Haqqani , who has a $5m (£3.4m) bounty on his head and is considered the most dangerous warlord in the Taliban by American officials, is being cited as a possible successor.

The US has 9,800 troops in Afghanistan, and a decision is expected before the end the year on whether to stick with a timetable that would see the numbers reduced to 5,500 by January 2017.