Death of Taliban chief leaves void

The killing of charismatic Taliban leader Mullah Dadullah on Sunday in a US-led operation may cripple the insurgent group.

from the May 14, 2007 edition

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Intelligence officials said he was killed in the southern province of Helmand. But it remained uncertain whether Dadullah had been killed by an airstrike or in ground combat, western military officials said.

A purported Taliban spokesman denied that Dadullah was dead, even though the government displayed to the press what is believed to be his body, naked to the waist under a pink sheet with a missing left leg.

Dadullah clearly represented a Taliban driven by radical extremists. Indeed, in recent years, he had become the face of the Taliban's extremist core – the hero who lost one leg in the war against the Soviets now taking the fight to the Americans. Of the 10 members of the Taliban's leadership council, he was by far the most recognizable, releasing videos of beheadings, and sending invectives to the press claiming he had thousands of suicide bombers at the ready.

Without him to rally around, the Taliban could struggle to maintain whatever cohesiveness it has, experts say.

"After the fall of the Taliban, all the Taliban escaped to different areas, and he was the only one to marshal them and bring them together as a cohesive force," says Waheed Mujda, author of a number of books about the Taliban.

Moreover, the Taliban's tactics could shift, says Dr. Rubin. "Dadullah was the main organizer behind suicide bombings," he says. "It's unclear the extent to which he trained successors."

Some say his ruthlessness precluded rivals or successors. "He killed the guys above him, so quite a lot of capable or respected leaders have disappeared in his move up the ranks of the Taliban," says a Western intelligence official in southern Afghanistan.

In that sense, Dadullah's insidious rise may leave a leadership void. "This indicates that there was a bit of a gap below him," the official adds.

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