The U.S. drone strike thought to have killed Taliban chief Akhtar Mohammad Mansour represents another escalation in U.S. involvement in the war in Afghanistan by trying to cripple an insurgent group that has for years found refuge on Pakistani soil. – Washington Post
The Afghan government is giving financial and military support to a breakaway Taliban faction, according to some Afghan and U.S. coalition officials, in an effort to sow rifts within the insurgency and nudge some of its leaders toward peace talks. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Afghanistan’s conflict is beginning to look more like a messy civil war than a straightforward struggle between the government and its Taliban enemies, judging from an outbreak of violence in recent days. – New York Times
As President Obama prepares to make his final major decision about the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan, there's a growing sense he is likely to halt a planned withdrawal of American troops and let the next president decide how to end the 15-year-old war. – Military Times
A passport found at the site of a U.S. drone attack targeting Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour bears the name of a Pakistani man named Wali Muhammad and carries a valid Iranian visa, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said on Sunday. - Reuters
NATO foreign ministers and alliance partners have agreed to extend the Resolute Support mission that trains, advises and assists Afghanistan's security forces and institutions beyond 2016. – Associated Press
General David Petraeus, USA (Ret.) and Michael O’Hanlon write: Simply waging the Afghanistan air-power campaign with the vigor we are employing in Iraq and Syria—even dropping bombs at a fraction of the pace at which we are conducting attacks in those Arab states—will very likely make much of the difference between some version of victory and defeat. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Max Boot writes: If the Mullah Mansour is not a one-off operation, and if Obama approves a wider air campaign, Afghan forces, with U.S. help, can take advantage of a period of disorientation and confusion in the Taliban ranks to make real gains against the group. If Obama maintains the current, restrictive rules of engagement, then this will be a wasted opportunity and the Taliban will be back to business as usual as soon as a successor to Mansour is appointed. - Commentary
Bruce Riedel writes: The death of Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mansour in an American drone strike is a significant but not fatal blow to both the Taliban and their Pakistani Army patrons. The critical question Afghans and Pakistanis are asking is whether this is a one-off or the beginning of a more aggressive American approach to fighting the war in Afghanistan. – The Daily Beast
A doctor in western Bangladesh was killed by machete-wielding assailants as he rode to his clinic on Friday morning, the police said, the most recent in a string of such attacks in the country. – New York Times
Voters in Tajikistan went to the polls in a referendum Sunday that could pave the way for President Emomali Rahmon to solidify his hold on power and cement his crackdown on moderate Islamic opponents. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
The party run by the fabled Gandhi dynasty, which has led the world's largest democracy for most of its existence, suffered humiliation last week when it lost Assam to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a state election. Congress had controlled Assam, in India's northeast, since 2001, and for the nationalist BJP it was a first. The race was not even close, underlining the crisis facing the mother-and-son team of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. - Reuters