The Afghan Taliban denounced yesterday’s drone strike in North Waziristan, Pakistan that killed Hakeemullah Mehsud, the emir of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. The Afghan group said the US would be “greatly mistaken” to believe that Hakeemullah’s death would “create a void” in the jihadist movement.
“With great sadness we have learned that yesterday the leader of Pakistani Taliban, Mullah Hakimullah Mehsud, was martyred as a result of a cowardly US drone attack, surely to Allah we belong and to Him is the return,” the Afghan Taliban said in a statement that was released on its official website, Voice of Jihad.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan [Afghan Taliban] condemns this barbaric and unlawful attack by America,” the statement continued. “We consider the martyrdom of Mullah Hakimullah to be a great loss and offer our heartfelt condolences to his family, relatives and friends.”
The Afghan Taliban then said that being killed while waging jihad is “a lofty objective,” and that Hakeemullah would be replaced.
“Muslims consider martyrdom a lofty objective and we all strive to achieve this status. If America believes that by martyring Mujahideen they will somehow create a void and reach their selfish aims then they are greatly mistaken,” the Afghan Taliban concluded.
The leadership of the Pakistani Taliban are reported to have held a meeting to name Khan Said, who is also known as Sajna Mehsud, as the group’s emir. Khan Said replaced Waliur Rahman as deputy emir in May after the latter Taliban leader was killed in a US drone strike.
Although the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan has sworn allegiance to Mullah Mohammad Omar, the emir of the Afghan Taliban, the Pakistani Taliban maintain their own command structure. Mullah Omar is considered to be the Amir al Mumineen, or “Commander of the Faithful,” by many jihadist groups operating in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Pakistani Taliban often fight in Afghanistan alongside their Afghan counterparts against Coalition and Afghan forces. In early October, a senior Pakistani Taliban commander known as Latif Mehsud was captured by US forces in Logar province, Afghanistan.
Also in early October, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban admitted that the Afghan Taliban “are now supporting us financially.” [See LWJ report, Afghan Taliban support Pakistani branch, spokesman claims.]
9 Comments
The American soldiers and our drones are greater than all of you Taliban. American soldiers and our allies have been chosen to martyr you.
Ever after second in command Latif Mehsud was captured, I knew this was imminent. However I have Strong reasons to believe that Haqqanis did Hakeemullah in. Recently Latif Mehsud was snatched by the Americans while he was trying to strike a deal with the Afghan Government. Naturally livid, Siraj Haqqani would have taken the decision to get rid of Hakemullah Mehsud who was believed to be sheltered by Haqqanis. Instead of directly attacking him, his whereabouts would have been supplied to the ISI. With little or no capabilities in the Tribal belts, the ISI would have felt it easier to finish him by passing the information to the CIA. Anway, Sajana Mehsud seems to be ready to take the mantle since Hakemullah’s was purely symbolic while Sajana has been pulling off spectacular attacks.
Next please.
The armed forces have a presence in the tribal belts. In some areas they actually have a significant presence. In the areas they don’t have a large presence in, they form spy/secret police/informant networks. They also multiple have long range, heavy artillery pieces that are stationed in certain areas and when they are fired can hit anywhere across the entire tribal belts.
I’m French. This message automatically see the Google translator, so forgive me if the sentences are bad in English.
Why advertise for recriminations of these fanatics? When they blow up bombs in mosques competing in their country, this is not an act of courage! Their language is absurd! Of course, in an ideal world, we should stop to stop these criminals and to judge the justice of their country for their crimes but as the Pakistani authorities are too weak to do so, they must be neutralized in the most efficient way possible, .
And good luck and long adventure for the editors of this forum 🙂
When it comes to cowardly acts, the Taliban are the biggest cowards on this planet. The Taliban uses women, children, old people, and peons scared to death of refusing Taliban cash for sabotage missions to carry out their IED & suicide bombing attacks while Taliban leaders live in the lap of luxury by Pakistani standards. American drone attacks cowardly? Look who’s talking.
The Afghan Taliban has no place to talk about America’s use of Drones during this insane war. After all, does not these so-called Islamic jihadists train their own children to blow themselves up—supposedly, so they will go to heaven? Ha, we laugh at your cowardice—you who don’t have the guts to meet us on the battle field man to man.
Cowardly Act huh? What do the Talibs call VBIED;s detonated in a Market full of women and children? They are such Bedo’!
@Mishmsih my thoughts exactly, I would also reference the absolute slaughter of unarmed men, women and children by terrorist talibani in the bank. Bill actually posted the video link of the slaughter on this site. These animals have no credibility at all.