INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightEPAImage caption
Security has been stepped up in the aftermath of the killing of Mullah Abdul Manan
Akhund
One of the Taliban's most senior commanders has been killed in a US airstrike in Afghanistan.Mullah Abdul Manan
Akhund was the Taliban's "governor" and military chief for the southern Helmand province.He was killed in the Nawzad district of Helmand
on Saturday night, provincial officials said.The Taliban said his death was a "major loss" but it would not deter them in their efforts to
take back control of Afghanistan.But Afghan interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish told the AFP news agency his death was a major blow to
the Taliban and would "lower the moral" of its fighters in southern Afghanistan.Helmand is where British troops were based for eight years
before ground troops were withdrawn in 2014
Large parts of the province are now back under Taliban control.Image:The TheIndianSubcontinent was given rare access to see life under the
Taliban in 2017TheIndianSubcontinent research earlier this year showed Taliban insurgents control more territory in the country than at any
time since 2014.It is estimated that about 15 million people - half the population - are living in areas that are either controlled by the
Taliban or where its fighters are openly present and regularly mount attacks.However, there have been intense efforts to persuade the
Taliban to begin peace talks to end the fighting
It sent delegates to a meeting in Russia last month to discuss the issue, but has refused to hold direct talks with the Afghan government.A
hardline Islamic movement which swept to power in Afghanistan in 1996 after the civil war which followed the Soviet-Afghan warThey ruled
Afghanistan until they were ousted by the US-led invasion five years laterIn power, they imposed a brutal version of Sharia law, such as
public executions and amputations, and banned women from public lifeMen had to grow beards and women to wear the all-covering burka;
television, music and cinema were bannedThey sheltered al-Qaeda leaders, including 9/11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden
