Updated: Top Taliban Leader Killed?

Update: Links below to Allah's tracking post, Allah asks a good question:

Fortuitous timing by Strategy Page with this piece, which suggests Dadullah might still have been holed up in that village where he was surrounded by Afghan troops on April 23. I don’t buy it. Why would they have waited three weeks to move in?

The answer looks to be here: Dadullah likely gambled he could escape or bribe his way out. Looks like he lost.

Apparently the siege of Keshay is awaiting the Taliban's response to the central government’s demand they lay down their arms and surrender. No deadline has been set for such negotiations; however, the government is threatening to launch an attack against the village if the Taliban do not surrender.

Killing or capturing Mullah Dadullah, easily the most feared and brutal of all top level Taliban commanders, would significantly disrupt the quality and quantity of Taliban activities throughout the south. It would also serve as a major victory for the fledging Afghan security apparatus and the international effort to squash Taliban violence.

Update: Body displayed according to the NY Times. Allah is tracking - has multiple links.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Sunday, May 13 — Afghan government officials showed the body of Mullah Dadullah, the top operational commander for the Taliban insurgency, to reporters here Sunday morning, saying he had been killed in a joint operation of Afghan and coalition forces.

Mr. Dadullah, an amputee, was recognizable in part from his missing leg and white beard.

Update: T'would be sweet, for sure.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban's most prominent military commander, was killed in fighting in southern Afghanistan with Afghan and NATO troops, officials said Sunday.

Dadullah was killed Saturday in the southern province of Helmand, said Said Ansari, the spokesman for Afghanistan's intelligence service. A government official in Kandahar province who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media said he had seen Dadullah's body.

Fox TV just broke an item - top Taliban leader killed in Afghanistan. I could be wrong - but I think they said it was Mullah Dadullah and also that NATO has yet to confirm.

The new nightmare from the Hindu Kush Mountains is called Mullah Dadullah. He sports a pitch black beard, always wears a military jacket and these days, he is omnipresent in the media.

There was this recent report.

KABUL: Afghan security forces and international troops have killed 70 Taliban rebels in a week-long push to drive the militants from a southern district, an intelligence department statement said Saturday.

Dozens of Afghan soldiers supported by military forces led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) launched the hunt May 5 in Nari Saraj district of insurgency-hit southern Helmand province, the statement said.

Up to 70 rebels, including five militant commanders, were killed, and more than 30 others were injured, it said.

Taliban militants "are now cleared" from the area, the statement added. It did not say when the district was overrun by the rebels.

This below has just been released.

Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar has called upon all Muslims to unite against international forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The fugitive Omar issued a rare statement Saturday, calling on Afghan and Iraqi insurgents to put aside sectarian disputes.

The Taliban leader, who has a 10-million-dollar bounty on his head, headed the 1996-2001 Taliban regime which was ousted by the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

Comments

[Buzzy]

Looks to be for real and that's very good news.

[Observer]

Would be good news if it pans out, but I will wait for specific confirmation.

Seems prudent considering other recent reported deaths.

But overall what I have been hearing from Afghanistan has given the picture that the forces there intervened early before the expected spring offensive and with good force and seemingly good intel and have been taking it to the Taliban and keeping them off balance.

Based on that this could be true reporting, but I will still wait for further confirmation.

[Captain Joe]

A little more rubble, a lot less trouble.

[southdakotaboy]

This process of killing of the top leaders is going to start having a very big effect on the rest of the Taliban future attacks. If you take out the organizers and the planners they will no longer be able to project force outside of their home area. This will inturn make it easier for our forces to hunt down the remainder of the Taliban.

[Purple Avenger]

That Taliban retirement plan really sucks.

[James]

In this type of a fight the taking out of Dadullah won't mean much except a new job opening for the next in line leader. Any organization worth it's salt will have many to replace fallen leaders.

Taliban is that type of organization since they started fighting the Soviets in the 1980's.

[southdakotaboy]

True James, but that kind of leadership skill is not just something that can be turned out at will. It takes time and natural talent, that is why the become top leaders. Also there will be a learning period for the new guy and in war the learning curve is rather sharp. If we can keep knocking out the big guys quickly it will soon start having a very big effect. The best example is the effect of attrition on the German and Japanese airforces during world war II. At the begining of the war they both had great airforces, by the end they were shoving teenage boys into the planes. There was a corresponding decline in effectiveness. The taliban faces the same problem.