Monday, May 14, 2007
Even though another leader will take over, experts said the Taliban took a hit.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
KABUL, Afghanistan -- The Taliban movement suffered a significant setback with the death of its top operational commander, Mullah Dadullah, but the brutal tactics he pioneered have likely left a lasting imprint on the insurgency, military officials and analysts said Sunday.
Dadullah, one of the most senior Taliban figures to be killed by Western forces in more than five years of fighting, died Saturday in a U.S.-led military operation in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, said American and Afghan officials.
Although subordinate to the movement's supreme leader, Mullah Omar, Dadullah was considered the commander in chief of Taliban forces, in charge of day-to-day military operations.
A flamboyant leader with one leg and a penchant for casting himself in Taliban recruiting videos, Dadullah had escaped death so many times that Afghan authorities displayed his blood-splattered corpse to reporters in the southern city of Kandahar. The body was wrapped in purple sheets and bore bullet wounds to the head and torso.
Those shown the body confirmed a missing left leg. They also said his face was recognizable from his televised interviews, a departure from the secrecy practiced by other senior figures in the Taliban hierarchy.
Dadullah, one of the most feared and ruthless Taliban commanders, was believed to have been the driving force behind insurgents' adoption of Iraq-style tactics such as suicide bombings, abductions and assassination-style killings including beheadings -- all of which increased sharply in the past year.
What's expected
Analysts said that even with Dadullah's death, Taliban fighters would press ahead with attacks, because they are the most successful way to fight NATO forces and intimidate the Afghan populace.
"All this is part of the repertoire now, and they will not change their minds as a result of Dadullah's elimination," said Hassan Abbas, a research fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Nonetheless, he and others characterized the death as a significant milestone in the Western-led coalition's battle against the Taliban, whose fighters have reorganized and regrouped after being toppled by a U.S.-led invasion in 2001.
The killing of Dadullah, thought to be in his 40s, was announced by Said Ansari, a spokesman for Afghanistan's intelligence service, and later confirmed by NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
Dadullah "will most certainly be replaced in time, but the insurgency has received a serious blow," ISAF said in a statement.
Afghan security forces also took part in the operation, which was launched when Dadullah "left his sanctuary," the coalition said without providing details.
Pakistan link
Like other senior Taliban leaders, Dadullah was thought to move freely across the Afghan-Pakistan frontier, using border-straddling tribal areas as a staging ground.
The presence of Taliban leaders in Pakistan is a politically explosive issue, both in the West and between the neighboring countries. Adding to cross-border tensions, Pakistani and Afghan troops Sunday engaged in a rare firefight along the frontier. Each side blamed the other for starting the shooting, in which at least two Afghans were killed.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf denies that his country has given any official safe haven to Afghan insurgents. But there have been strong indications that Pakistani intelligence is aware of senior Taliban commanders' comings and goings.