E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

Taliban Bust Outta The Slammer
More than 40 Taliban militants escaped from a southern Afghanistan prison by digging a 30-foot-long tunnel and with apparent help from officials, regional leaders said Saturday. The 41 escaped convicts — including several Taliban commanders and the brother of former Taliban defense minister, Mullah Ubaidullah — disappeared late Friday from a not so high-security prison in the city of Kandahar, said Yousaf Pashtoon, the governor of Kandahar province.
Well that’s just ducky.
The prisoners were among 54 arrested in recent months during fighting between Afghan government forces and insurgents. Kandahar was the stronghold of Afghanistan’s former hardline Islamic Taliban regime, ousted by a U.S.-led military operation in late 2001.
I guess that means they've get 14 left to look surprised over next week...
’’This is a very serious incident,’’ Pashtoon said, adding that a province-wide search for the prisoners was under way. Two government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said five prison officials were missing. Pashtoon said there was an investigation into the role the five might have played in the escape.
I’d say that was a reasonable course of inquiry.
’’The Taliban dug a 30-foot tunnel and initial investigations indicate that they were working on it for the past month,’’ Pashtoon said.
The Yemeni jails have screen doors, the Phillipine jail doors just lift off their hinges, Saudi jails "catch fire", and the Taliban seem to have been renting "The Great Escape" at the Kandahar Blockbuster. I’m sure glad we are keeping the top leaders under our control at Bagram and Gitmo.
Posted by: Steve & Super Hose 2003-10-11
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=19739