Peshawar/KABUL - Afghan President Ashraf Ghani yesterday phoned Pakistan Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and confirmed the earlier reported death of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Mullah Fazlullah.

Fazlullah, believed to be in his forties, was wanted to Pakistan for years-long reign of terror in which thousands of civilians and security personnel were martyred.

He was eliminated in a US drone strike in Afghanistan’s Kunar province bordering Pakistan on June 13 (Wednesday), and Afghan officials had reported his death the next day.

Lt-Col Martin O'Donnell, the spokesman for the US forces in Afghanistan, had also confirmed the "counterterrorism strike" in Marwari district near the border.

But he stopped short of claiming Fazlullah’s death. “A senior leader of a designated terrorist organisation was targeted” in the strike, he had said in his statement. “It’s not a violation of the ceasefire [with Afghan Taliban],” he added.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Friday said the [Afghan] Taliban are honouring their three-day ceasefire that began Thursday night in response to his truce. He expressed hope for its extension.

Ghani said he had spoken overnight with Saudi King Salman, who pledged his “full support for the truce and peace” in Afghanistan.

“This is the first ceasefire in the contemporary history of Afghanistan, and I want to congratulate the people for that,” Ghani added, saying he welcomes any step that leads to the end of bloodshed in the country.

The Afghan president later also made a phone call to Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, conforming to him the death of Fazlullah and exchanging views on peaceful resolution of the Afghan problem which has cost hundreds of thousands of lives over the last many years.

The reports claiming Fazlullah’s killing in similar attacks were aired a number of times in the past too but those were not confirmed by Afghan and US officials. This time however, the Afghan defence ministry has officially confirmed his death.

Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Radmanish told the foreign media that Fazlullah “was a terrorist leader” and “his death will have a multifaceted impact”.

He added that at least four of Fazlullah’s companions were also killed in the joint US-Afghan strike which came at about 9 am on Thursday when the targeted militants were leaving for somewhere.

Pakistan has often asked US and Afghan forces to take action against TTP men living on the Afghan side of the volatile Pakistan-Afghanistan border, where they fled following a series of military operations by Pakistan.

A member of the Pakistani Taliban told Reuters by telephone on Friday the group was trying to get word from Afghanistan, where most of the Pakistani Taliban fighters are now based.

In March, Fazlullah's son Abdullah was among 20 TTP armed fighters killed in a US drone attack in Kunar province.

Fazlullah was named the TTP chief after the death of Hakimullah Mehsud, who also was killed in a drone strike in November 2013.

He was the first commander of the TTP not to come from the Mehsud tribe in Pakistan's tribal areas, hailing instead from the northwestern valley of Swat, where he waged a bloody war against the Pakistani state from 2007 to 2009.

Fazlullah had been described as a ruthless commander who was vehemently anti-state and against peace talks with the government.

He was designated a global terrorist by the US and carried a bounty of $5 million. He had been on the run since his loyalists were routed in a major military operation in Swat in 2009.

In 2006, while in Sawat, he began delivering fiery sermons on his own FM radio, earning the nickname “Mullah Radio”, railing against polio vaccination and girls’ education.

He was Pakistan’s most-wanted militant. It was under his command that TTP carried out most devastating attacks – including a 2014 school massacre that killed 132 children. He was also behind the 2012 attack on Malala Yousafzai.

The brave Swat girl was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts for girls education and facing the grave threats posed to her by the Taliban.

The US State Department in March announced a $5 million reward for help locating Fazlullah, who has also been linked to the 2010 attempted Times Square car bombing in New York.

It said the group has "demonstrated a close alliance with al-Qaeda" and had given explosives training to Faisal Shahzad, the would-be Times Square bomber.

 

Pakistan has long accused DC and Afghanistan for harbouring Fazulllah in Afghanistan, using his presence there as a rebuttal to criticism for not aggressively the Haqqani Network within Pakistan. The killing of TTP leader is likely to ease prevailing tension between the US and Pakistan.

Pakistan is considered key to persuading Afghan Taliban leaders, who Washington believes shelter on Pakistani soil, to open negotiations to end the 17-year-old war in Afghanistan.

A retired Pakistani Brigadier, Mehmood Shah, welcomed the drone killing. “This attack shows that there is now an inclination in US policy toward Pakistan, which could further improve the security situation,” Shah said.

 

 

 

Kabul confirms TTP chief Fazlullah’s death