1. Akhtar Mohammad Mansour was the second supreme leader of the Taliban.
28 Facts About Akhtar Mansour
1. 2.
Akhtar Mansour was born sometime during either 1960,1963,1965 or 1968.
3.
Akhtar Mansour is alleged to have owned a cell-phone company, among other investments, and is claimed to have been wealthy as a result of his profiting from the dealings of Ishaqzai drug dealers.
4.
Akhtar Mansour participated in the war against the Soviet military within Maiwand, Sang-e-Hessar, Zangawat and other parts of the city, and the Pashmul area of the Panjwai district, under the command of Mohammad Hassan Akhond, apparently commanded by him at least while fighting at the last location.
5.
Akhtar Mansour was a student at Darul Uloom Haqqania madrassa.
6.
Akhtar Mansour was apparently a popular student, during his time at the madrassa from 1994 to 1995, located within the Jalozai refugee camp for Afghans near Peshawar, according to Afghan journalist Sami Yousafzai, who met him during that time.
7.
Notably, while minister, Akhtar Mansour organized 24-hour flight services within Afghanistan, thereby organizing the provision of facilities for Muslims to go to Mecca as Hajj via air-flight.
8.
Akhtar Mansour came to Germany to purchase airport equipment, parts for airliners and military choppers for the Taliban air force.
9.
Akhtar Mansour was forgiven after which he returned to his home district.
10.
Mullah Akhtar Mansour was appointed as shadow governor of Kandahar, from sometime after 2001, until May 2007.
11.
The council of the Taliban appointed him as deputy to the newly appointed Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar during 2007, the Indian Express reported Akthar Akhtar Mansour as appointed to the Taliban's Quetta Shura, sometime during 2007, while within Quetta.
12.
One source gives Akhtar Mansour as being appointed deputy to Mohammed Omar during 2010; another source states him to have been "by some accounts" the second most senior member of the Taliban behind Mohammed Omar, during 2010.
13.
The article stated Akhtar Mansour was in favour of initiating so-called talks with Afghani government officials at the time, but was unable to make any progress in his own direction due to opposition from Zakir to the opening of a dialogue with the Afghan government.
14.
Akhtar Mansour wrote a letter to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, on behalf of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, released on 16 June 2015, to express his concerns of the potential for a negative influence of ISIS upon Afghan Talibans' progress, since ISIS activities might pose a risk of causing "multiplicity" within forces of the jihad of Afghanistan.
15.
Additionally, the letter shows Akhtar Mansour considered the late Abdullah Azzam and Osama bin Laden, the late Abu Musab al Zarqawi and Ibn al-Khattab, to be heroes.
16.
Akhtar Mansour was elected leader of the Taliban organisation on 29 July 2015.
17.
Mullah Akhtar Mansour is said to have "closely kept the secret that Mullah Omar had been dead" despite the leaking of a report of Omar's death in 2013.
18.
Akhtar Mansour announced one of his deputies to be Sirajuddin Haqqani.
19.
Akhtar Mansour is thought to have had dealings of some kind with the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence.
20.
The Brookings Institution reported that Akhtar Mansour referred to his own leadership as Commander of the faithful, a translation of Amir al-Mu'minin.
21.
Akhtar Mansour released his first communication as leader of the Taliban on 1 August 2015 as part of a 30-minute video release:.
22.
Akhtar Mansour stated his position with regards to peace talks; the suggestion of his being willing to engage in peace talks as "enemy propaganda".
23.
Akhtar Mansour was being driven to Quetta, after a long stay in Iran, reportedly to both visit family and seek medical treatment.
24.
On 23 May 2016, US President Barack Obama confirmed that Akhtar Mansour had been killed in the American airstrike that he had sanctioned, and stated that Akhtar Mansour had been planning attacks against US targets in Kabul.
25.
The death of Akhtar Mansour was later officially confirmed separately by the Afghan government and members of the Taliban.
26.
The strike that killed Akhtar Mansour was a rare instance of a US drone strike in Balochistan; US strikes in Pakistan were more generally limited to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
27.
Two senior members of the Taliban said that Pakistani authorities had delivered Akhtar Mansour's badly burned body to the Taliban for its burial in Quetta, Balochistan.
28.
Akhtar Mansour's body was later handed over to his relatives in Afghanistan.