Acknowledging the killing of its leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour, the Afghan Taliban have announced Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada as his successor.
Mansour was killed in a rare United States drone strike deep inside Pakistan, Afghanistan announced on Sunday, inflicting a body blow to the insurgents and removing a major "threat" to the fragile peace process in the war-torn country.
Mansour and another militant were targeted in a precision air strike by multiple unmanned drones operated by US Special Operations forces on Saturday as the duo rode in a vehicle in a remote area near Ahmad Wal town in the restive Baluchistan province close to the Afghan border, US officials said.
The drone strike, which US officials said was authorised by President Barack Obama, showed America was ready to target the Taliban leadership in Pakistan, which Afghanistan has repeatedly accused of sheltering the militants.
The strike has strained ties between Washington and Islamabad once again with Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Tuesday condemning the drone attack as violation of Pakistan's territory and stating that the incident may lead to serious implications.
Khan said he cannot understand that Mansour was a hurdle in peace process as he was at helms of affairs when the first round of direct talks was held in Murree in July last year.
He said that second round planned on July 31 last year was sabotaged when it was revealed that Mullah Omar was dead.
Khan said progress was made in the first round and Taliban "had agreed to declare Kabul as conflict free zone."
However, Washington has reiterated that even though it respects Pakistan's sovereignty it will carry out strikes to eliminate terrorists who are targeting its forces.
