KABUL/WASHINGTON- Pakistan accused the United States on Sunday of violating its sovereignty with a drone strike against the leader of the Afghan Taliban, in perhaps the most high-profile U.S. incursion into Pakistani territory since the 2011 raid to kill Osama bin Laden.
Afghanistan said the attack killed Mullah Akhtar Mansour, which, if confirmed, could trigger a succession battle within an insurgency that has proved resilient despite a decade and a half of US military deployments to Afghanistan.
Afghan guerrilla commander Sirajuddin Haqqani, a possible successor to Mansour, would likely prove an even more implacable foe of Afghan government forces and their US allies.