Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani or Usmani (died 19 December 2006)[1] was a senior leader of the Taliban, treasurer for the organization,[2] and close associate of Osama bin Laden and Mohammed Omar. He was involved in the demolition of the Buddhas of Bamyan.[3] He was considered a potential successor to Mullah Omar.[4] Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan, once referred to him as one of the four most dangerous Taliban members still in Afghanistan.[5]
Shortly after the 11 September attacks, CIA officer Robert Grenier met him to offer the Taliban the opportunity to give up Osama bin Laden.[4]
On December 2006, as he was riding in a four-wheel drive vehicle in Helmand Province, Osmani was killed by a smart bomb in a United States Air Force airstrike;[3] he had been tracked down by a Royal Air Force airplane which monitored his satellite phone.[2] Spokesmen of the Taliban initially denied his death,[6] and claimed that the bomb had instead killed a Taliban leader called Abdul Zahir.[7] However, several days later other top Taliban officials confirmed his death.[8]
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