The Afghan Taleban's top military commander has been captured in Karachi in a secret raid by Pakistani and US intelligence forces.
Pakistan confirmed this morning that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, described as the most significant Taleban figure captured since the start of the Afghanistan war, was arrested in a slum predominantly populated by Afghan and Pakistani Pashtuns last week.
Mullah Baradar, who is deputy to Mullah Omar, the Afghan Taleban's supreme commander, had regularly visited Karachi, which Pakistani and Western intelligence agencies believe has become a major haven for the Afghan Taleban leadership.
Citing US government officials, The New York Times said that Baradar had been in Pakistani custody for several days and was being interrogated by Pakistani and US intelligence officers. Pakistani officials would not say where he was being detainedThe White House and the Pentagon declined to comment on the report.
The newspaper reported that officials said the operation to capture Mr Baradar was conducted by Pakistan's military spy agency, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, accompanied by CIA agents.
US officials believe that Baradar is second in influence in the Taleban only to Omar and was a close associate of Osama bin Laden before the attacks on the US in 2001, it added.
The newspaper said it was not clear if Baradar was talking to authorities, but it quoted officials as saying his capture could lead to other senior Taleban officials. The officials said he might even take them to Omar.
A spokesman for the Taleban in Afghanistan told the Associated Press that Baradar was still free, though he did not provide any evidence.
“We totally deny this rumour. He has not been arrested,” Zabiullah Mujahid told the AP by telephone. “The Taleban are having success with our jihad. It is to try to demoralise the Taleban who are on jihad in Marjah and all of Afghanistan.”
Baradar was born in 1968 in Weetmak, a village in the Oruzgan Province of Afghanistan. Terrorism experts describe him as a skilled military leader who runs many high-level meetings of the Taleban’s top commanders in Afghanistan.
He has had a leading role in the Taleban's day-to-day military and financial operations, allocating funds, appointing military commanders and deciding military tactics.
Baradar is said to be responsible for the Taleban tactic of planting "flowers" — improvised explosive devices (IEDs) — along roadsides.
His capture is seen as indication that the current Pakistani military leadership under General Ashfaq Kayani, the Chief of Army Staff, is convinced that there are close links between the Afghan and Pakistani Taleban, an alliance that presents the biggest threat to the country’s national security.
The arrest comes at the start of Operation Moshtarak, one of Nato's biggest offensives against Taleban Islamic militants in Afghanistan. The offensive in Marjah involves 15,000 US, British and Afghan troops. It is the biggest joint operation since the 2001 invasion that ousted the Taleban. The troops are fighting over an area of less than 100 square miles, with a population of 80,000.
The assault is the first test of President Obama's plan to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, where the Taleban has made a steady comeback since the invasion.
The New York Times said it learnt of the operation last Thursday, but delayed reporting it after a request by the White House.
The paper said it was now publishing the report because White House officials acknowledged that news of the capture was becoming broadly known in the region.
US officials were quoted as saying that in addition to the Taleban's military operations, Baradar ran the group's leadership council, often called the Quetta Shura.
Pakistani and intelligence agencies said most of the members of the Quetta Shura had moved to Karachi in recent months after reports that the Obama Administration might target Taleban sanctuaries in Baluchistan.
Source:The Times
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