C I V I L - M I L I T A R Y

F U S I O N

C E N T R E

AFGHANISTAN

RESOURCE DESK

The Mansur Network

Mark E. Checchia
Security and Force Protection Desk Officer mark.checchia@cimicweb.com

January 2012

bdul Latif Mansur is the commander of the Abdul Latif Mansur network in Paktika, Paktiya and Khost (P2K) provinces of Afghanistan, according to a 2010 article in The Long War Journal. The article notes that Mansur variously spelled as Mansoor and Mansour is believed to lead the insurgencys Peshawar Regional Military Shura (council) and to serve on the Miramshah Shura, both of which are discussed further below. Previously Mansur was the Minister of Agriculture under the Taliban regime from 1996 to 2001. Thomas Ruttig of the Afghan Analysts Network (AAN) asserts the Mansur network is also active in north-eastern Ghazni province and pockets of Logar province. The Peshawar Regional Military Shura, which is based in the city of Peshawar in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, directs insurgent activities in eastern and north-eastern Afghanistan, according to The Long War Journal article. Before Mansur took the helm, the Peshawar Regional Military Shura was reportedly led by Maulvi Abdul Kabir until his arrest in Pakistan in February 2010. Kabir is described in an article by Rahimullah Yusufzai, a prominent Pakistani journalist and Afghanistan expert, as the former Taliban governor of Nangarhar province, the head of the three eastern provinces (Nangarhar, Laghman and Kunar) and former Taliban deputy prime minister. Kabir was also one of the most wanted Taliban leaders because of his links with Osama bin Laden. Although Mansur reportedly took over the Shura after Kabirs arrest in 2010, an 11 January 2012 article from Pakistan Today says that Mansur was replaced as the head of this Shura by Sheikh Mohammed Aminullah in 2011. Such a claim is supported by an 09 January 2011 report by Bill Roggio in The Long War Journal. The Miramshah Regional Military Shura is also based in Pakistan, in the town of Miramshah in the Talibancontrolled North Waziristan tribal agency. It directs activities in south-eastern Afghanistan, including the provinces of Paktika, Paktia, Khost, Logar and Wardak. The Miramshah Regional Military Shura is led by Sirajuddin Haqqani, the son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, who established the Haqqani Network. The fact that Mansur is a member of this Shura has led some analysts to propose a close relationship between the Haqqani and Mansur networks.

The Civil-Military Fusion Centre (CFC) is an information and knowledge management organisation focused on improving civil-military interaction, facilitating information sharing and enhancing situational awareness through the CimicWeb portal and our weekly and monthly publications. CFC products are based upon and link to open-source information from a wide variety of organisations, research centres and media sources. However, the CFC does not endorse and cannot necessarily guarantee the accuracy or objectivity of these sources. CFC publications are independently produced by Desk Officers and do not reflect NATO or ISAF policies or positions of any other organisation.

Afghanistan Resource Desk: The Mansur Network

The Mansur network traces its roots back to the 1960s, when a conservative Islamist group called Khuddam ulForqan, or Servants of Providence, was formed to oppose the rising Marxism in Afghanistan, says the aforementioned book chapter by Ruttig. This organisation developed into a main contributor to Harikat-i Inqilab-e Islami (HII, the Movement for an Islamic Revolution), which was one of the groups fighting the regime in Kabul. After the Soviet invasion in 1979, the HII opposed the groups led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Burhannudin Rabbani on the basis that these groups lacked recognized spiritual authority; which the HII thought was essential for issuing a fatwah (religious ruling) against the Soviets. The HII was wary of the Taliban even before the attacks of 9/11, according to Ruttig. After the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001 and early 2002, many of the HII leaders, including some associated with its the Mansur faction, threw their lot in with the nascent Afghan administration or joined reconciliation programmes. Although post-9/11 attrition weakened the Mansur network, it also reportedly provided them with inroads into the thenforming Afghan government structures.

UN Sanctions
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC), in Security Council Resolution (SCR) 1267 in 1999, listed Mansur as Minister of Agriculture of the Taliban regime. As such, he falls within the provisions of SCR 1267 as well as those of SCR 1333 from 2000. Those resolutions are intended to inhibit the activities of the Taliban. More recently, a UN document, entitled List of Individuals Subject to the Measures Imposed by Paragraph 1 of Resolution 1988 (2011), confirms that Mansur was a member of the Talibans Miramshah Regional Military Shura as of May 2007. The UN also states that he was the Taliban shadow governor of Afghanistans Nangarhar province in 2009 and that he served as the head of the Talibans political commission as of mid-2009. Mansur was also described as a senior Taliban commander in eastern Afghanistan from May 2010 onwards. As a result, he was added to the 1988 list, which refers to SCR 1988. This resolution provides for the following three sanctions against the Taliban and individuals or groups associated with Taliban: assets freezes, travel bans and an arms embargo.

Past Activity
The original leader of the Mansur network was Maulvi Nasrullah Mansur, who was the brother of Abdul Latif Mansur. Maulvi Nasrullah Mansur was an Afghan mujahedeen commander who was noted for fighting the Soviet occupation in the 1980s, the BBC reported. He died in a car bomb explosion in 1993 while driving between the city of Gardez and his native Zurmat district; Hekmatyars group, Hizb-e Islami (HIG), is the suspected culprit, which may contribute to the continuing animosity between HIG and the Mansur network. Two of Maulvi Nasrullah Mansurs cousins, Latifullah Mansur and Bashir Mansur, have been described as members of the group alongside three of his sons (Saif-ur-Rahman Mansur, Seyyid-ur-Rahman Mansur and Fath-ur-Rahman Mansur). The most thorough discussion of Mansur and the groups activities is found in a 2009 edited volume book entitled Decoding the new Taliban: insights from the Afghan field edited by leading Afghanistan analyst and historian Antonio Giustozzi. Chapter Four, Loya Paktias Insurgency is written by Ruttig and has a section specifically on the Mansur network. It states that the Mansur network supports the Taliban without organisationally being fully integrated into it. The chapter suggests that the killing of several leaders in the Mansur network has caused the group to be weakened considerably and that it has clearly passed its heyday. Nevertheless, the fact that Mansur leads (or recently led) one Taliban military council (as noted above) and is a member of another, suggests that he and his network are still important to the Taliban, according to Ruttig.

January 2012

Page 2

Afghanistan Resource Desk: The Mansur Network

The Ruttig chapter notes there has been considerable contention between the Mansur group and the Hekmatyarled HIG.1 Members of each group have reportedly been killed whilst fighting against one another in struggles for local dominance. Mansurs group retains the upper hand locally, and HIG cannot operate comfortably in Mansurs neighbourhood. For instance, HIG supplies are reportedly not permitted to transit through territory under the control of the Mansur network.

Recent Activity
The International Crisis Group (ICG) 2010 report on The Insurgency in Afghanistans Heartland contends the Mansur network is perhaps most famous for thwarting US forces in their hunt for Osama bin Laden and other alQaeda leaders during Operation Anaconda in March 2002. Rahimullah Yusufzais article in Time magazine in 2002 credits a branch of the Mansur network led by Saif-ur-Rahman Mansur with downing two US helicopters in the battle at Takur Ghar, also known as the battle of Roberts Ridge, during Operation Anaconda, which caused the deaths of seven US servicemen. This paper also asserts, as does the Time article, that there is a close connection between the Mansur and Haqqani networks, and that they have cooperated as far back as the early 1990s. The group has received little other media attention for its activities. One of the few available articles, a 2009 CBS News item entitled Afghan Elections will Change Nothing, Says Taliban, mentions a statement on the Internet from Abdul Latif Mansur.2 In the statement, Mansur called on Afghans to boycott the 2009 presidential elections given that they comprised a conspiracy by the occupation forces. Mansur also reportedly claimed that the Afghan president is appointed by the United States. The statement went on to say the following: We must not expect any change in the presence of the occupying foreign forces, because it is inevitable that the successful candidate must be approved by the occupying forces. He also reportedly warned that the hot jihadi trenches will not go cold until the foreign forces withdraw from Afghanistan.

1 2

HIG also reportedly has a political component with representatives in the Afghan parliament. The article refers to him as Sayyed Mullah Abdul Latif Mansour and describes him as the head of the political committee of the Afghan Emirate

January 2012

Page 3

Afghanistan Resource Desk: The Mansur Network

Annex A. Additional Resources

CBS News Investigates. 2009. Afghan Elections will Change Nothing, Says Taliban, CBS News. Garamone, Jim. 2002. The Battle of Takur Ghar, American Forces Press Service, US Department of Defense. Giustozzi, Antonio. 2009. Decoding The New Taliban: insights from the Afghan field, Columbia University Press. ICG. 2011. The Insurgency in Afghanistans Heartland, International Crisis Group. Monitoring Desk. 2012. Taliban appoint new leader for Peshawar Shura, Pakistan Today. Roggio, Bill. 2012. Taliban appoint al Qaeda-linked commander to lead Peshawar shura, The Long War Journal. Roggio, Bill. 2010. The Afghan Talibans top leaders, The Long War Journal. Roggio, Bill. 2010. ISAF targets Talibans shadow government in Nangarhar, The Long War Journal. United Nations Security Council. 2011. Narrative Summaries Of Reasons For Listing Abdul Latif Mansur, UN Security Council Resolution 1988. United Nations Security Council. 1999. Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999) and 1989 (2011) concerning Al-Qaida and associated individuals and entities, United Nations. Yusufzai, Rahimullah. 2002. Leader of al-Qaedas last stand, BBC News. Yusufzai, Rahimullah. 2002. Still on the Run, Newsline Magazine. Yusufzai, Rahimullah. 2002. Battle Creates a New Taliban Legend, Time Magazine.

January 2012

Page 4