Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour might have been killed in an airstrike carried out by the United States around the Pakistan border on Saturday, reported Reuters. Though the Pentagon has confirmed the mission, approved by President Barack Obama, they have refused to assert the fate of Akhtar yet. "We are still assessing the results of the strike and will provide more information as it becomes available," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. The Afghan Taliban has denied that Mansour is dead.

Akhtar's death would open the doors for a struggle for succession. Though his deputy Sirajuddin Haqqani would be the strongest contender for zthe post, the extremist group doesn't always function on the basis of meritocracy, according to analysts. Haqqani is in charge of the group that has orchestrated most of the suicide bomb attacks in Kabul in the recent past. Akhtar took charge of the group in 2015, two years after the death of the previous leader and founder Mullah Mohammad Omar, reported BBC.