The operation was a "major milestone", said President Obama in a statement released as he met with Vietnamese authorities. He said the United States "has removed the leader of an organization that has continued plotting and launching attacks against US forces and the coalition".
"Mansur did not accept the initiatives of the Afghan government to engage in peace talks and end the violence that has claimed the lives of countless innocent Afghan men, women and children," Obama said in his statement.
"The Taliban should take this opportunity to follow the path that allows them to end this conflict, join the Afghan government in a process of reconciliation leading to a stable and lasting peace."
In a press conference with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang, Obama said Mansur attack posed no change in strategy for the US mission in Afghanistan.
"We are not returning to the daily struggle, currently developing Afghan forces," he said.
But Mansur was a danger to US forces.
"This is an individual who, at the head of the Taliban, was in the crosshairs of US troops and troops within the country, they fulfill the mission I have entrusted them to maintain an anti-terrorist platform and provide assistance" said the president.
He added that kill Mansur sent the message that goes "to protect our people."
The attack was the first with a drone in Baluchistan province, southeastern Pakistan, which serves as de facto headquarters for the Afghan Taliban. Almost all other drone attacks have occurred in other areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Mansur's death, he consolidated his authority over a group of Taliban increasingly divided as they move on the battlefield, the insurgency launches its second leadership crisis in a year. It is still unclear whether it will be a boost for the Afghan government led by Ashraf Gani, trying to lay the rebels to the negotiating table.
Even without a clear successor to Mansur, the issue of peace talks does not have much prestige among the Taliban leaders.
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