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| India-Pakistan |
| Taliban arrest in Pakistan raises Western hopes |
| 2008-07-24 |
| Pakistan's security forces made a rare arrest of a senior Afghan Taliban commander near Quetta on Saturday, Pakistani security officials and coalition forces in Afghanistan told Reuters. A statement issued by British forces in Afghanistan on Tuesday said Mullah Rahim, operational commander of Taliban forces in Helmand, had surrendered to "authorities in Pakistan". Western officials in the past have suspected the Pakistani security services of turning a blind eye to the presence of Taliban leaders in Quetta. "We've seen signs of change, yes, and arrests," said an official in Islamabad earlier this week. Pakistan had still to confirm Rahim's capture, but Pakistani security officials, who had requested anonymity, had told Reuters on Monday that a suspect believed to have been the Taliban commander in Helmand had been caught over the weekend. Raid: They said the man had been caught during a raid on a house in Kharotabad, Quetta. "We conducted a raid three days ago based on very credible information that some important Taliban figures were hiding with an Afghan family there," a senior intelligence official said. Western allies suffering mounting casualties among troops in Afghanistan have put Pakistan under pressure to act against Taliban taking sanctuary on its territory. The intensity of the pressure and more frequent US drone aircraft missile attacks on militant targets in Pakistani Tribal Areas have led to frenzied speculation in the Pakistani media that Western forces in Afghanistan could soon take unilateral action. Deployment of more NATO troops near the Pakistan border has prompted fears they could be ordered across on "hot pursuit" or covert missions to eliminate "high value targets". Pakistan opposes any such action that would violate its sovereignty and risk escalating the conflict in ethnic Pashtun lands straddling the frontier. Taliban leader killed: The British statement said that hours after Rahim's arrest in Pakistan British forces killed another senior Taliban leader, the third in as many weeks. Abdul Razaq, alias Mullah Sheikh, was killed along with three fighters in a missile strike after midnight on Sunday at Musa Qala, a town in Helmand that has changed hands several times. Similar successes have been trumpeted in the past, and Taliban sources told Reuters on Wednesday that Rahim had already been replaced by Mullah Nayeem as commander in Helmand. Last December, the Afghan Defence Ministry said Mullah Rahim Akhond, the Taliban's governor for Helmand, and Mullah Mateen Akhond, district governor in Musa Qala, had been caught. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Meh. While I don't think Obama's actually visiting Pakistan, ISI producing another live body to make State turn sweet whenever there's an American VIP in the region is a trick which is getting pretty damned cliche. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2008-07-24 10:06 |
| #1 So are they gonna give him up? Or did he come in for a little R&R? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-07-24 09:54 |