“The America of today is not the America of the past. … [It] has sunk so low that even the widows now want to participate in the war against it, and wish to defeat the U.S. … We will bring shameful defeat upon the Jews and the Christians. The cries you are now hearing from them once a day, you will hear them 20 times a day.”

— Mullah Dadullah, Al-Jazeera TV, March 2

The demise of the Taliban’s top military commander, Mullah Dadullah, is certainly a victory in the war on terror. The one-legged Dadullah was by all accounts a vicious tyrant personally responsible for beheadings and other outrages who had rightfully earned his nicknames: the “Wild Beast” of the Taliban and the “Butcher of Kandahar.”

In Dadullah’s interviews, he was often quoted explaining his desire to kill “Jews and Christian forces.” Not surprisingly, jihadists are celebrating his death as that of a martyr who will soon receive his 72 black-eyed virgins. On one Islamist Web site, a poem compares the mullah to a companion of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad during the Battle of Uhud in the year 625.

Soon after Dadullah’s martyrdom was announced, MEMRI’s team of Islamist Web site monitors found online chatter that speculated that his death might be connected to his love for being in front of TV cameras. His frequent interviews on Al-Jazeera had been criticized by many in the Taliban, and on January 19, Islamist Web sites posted a communiqué purported to be from the Taliban in which a spokesman identified as “Dr. Hanift” claimed, “The Taliban organization may have issued an order to kill Mullah Dadullah.”

Rahimullah Yusufzai, an editor of a Peshawar, Pakistan-based newspaper, the News, yesterday was quoted stating that Taliban fighters had been unhappy with Dadullah “because of his beheadings, kidnappings, and boastful videos.”

Dadullah was a lover of martyrdom and would often give sermons espousing suicide bombing for Islam. An Islamist Web site that eulogizes Dadullah claims he frequently called for himself to come back to life again and again in order to be able to be martyred 100 times.

The mullah was even known to distribute “tickets to heaven,” vouchers for volunteer suicide bombers. According to accounts, he tried to create innovative ways to help young men “to accept martyrdom for the sake of jihad.” In his last interview, given a week ago, Mr. Dadullah warned that Americans and British citizens “will be executing attacks in Britain and the U.S.”

In a May 31, 2006, interview on Al-Jazeera, Dadullah boasted, “Praise be to Allah, who gave us this great power of self-sacrifice, among Arabs and non-Arabs. Our preparations for the war in the field of self-sacrifice activities are not enough by themselves. … The weapon of devotion is still the most important. In addition, we must remember our martyrs and their blood.”

A video from As-Sahab, the production house for Al Qaeda, that was posted at tajded.net.tc on December 28, 2006, is centered on Dadullah and opens with chants of “Oh, Muslim, arise! There is a black-eyed virgin in Paradise. … Regards to the Taliban, oh, blessings of the All Merciful.” The video conflates its cause with “the Sunnah after the Koran,” which is the “trodden path” of Muhammad’s teachings. Dadullah continues, referring to Osama bin Laden and President Bush by name: “You are sufficient, oh, bin Laden. … The rule of jihad today does not require much thought, oh, Muslim. … Oh, Bush, you are facing men for whom, oh, Crusader, the sound of the bazooka is like music.”

In the As-Sahab video, Dadullah is shown greeting a group of suicide bombers on their way to attacks. “May Allah bless you,” he says to the prospective killers as they are sent on their way.

Now that Dadullah has joined Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one hopes other terrorists such as Mr. bin Laden will follow.

Mr. Stalinsky is the executive director of The Middle East Media Research Institute.