Pakistani Taliban faction mourns death of Mullah Mansour

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, mourned the death of former Taliban emir Mullah Mansour, who was killed in a US drone strike in Paksitan on May 21.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar’s spokesman, Ishanullah Ihsan, emailed a eulogy for Mansour which included a banner mourning his death.

“With regret the Muslim world has lost a great mentor,” Ihsan said, referring to Mansour. He urged “the Mujahideen and all Muslims” not to grieve too long, and to “focus on fighting” their enemies.

While the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar never publicly swore allegiance to Mansour, the Pakistani Taliban have routinely referred to him as their leader. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar’s euglogy for Mansour makes it clear that he was revered as a “mentor” and a leader.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar has been responsible for multiple high profile attacks inside Pakistan. The group split from the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan in the summer of 2014 after a leadership dispute emerged in the wake of the killing of Hakeemullah Mehsud, the previous emir of the Pakistani Taliban alliance. But Jamaat-ul-Ahrar reconciled and rejoined the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan in March 2015.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of The Long War Journal.

Tags: Afghanistan, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Pakistan, Taliban

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