The fallout from the assassination of Mullah Mansour (Claude Rakisits, ASPI The Strategist)

On 21 May, Mullah Mohammed Akhtar Mansour, leader of the Afghani Taliban, was assassinated by an American drone strike in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province, just across the border with Afghanistan. Mullah Mansour’s death was announced by President Obamaduring his visit to Vietnam. It’s the most successful American operation in the region since the elimination of Osama Bin Laden five years ago. The political decapitation of the Afghan Taliban will have far-reaching consequences at three levels: on internal Taliban dynamics; on the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan; and on US–Pakistan relations. Let me address those in that order

http://www.aspistrategist.org.au/fallout-assassination-mullah-mansour/