A prominent Taliban commander has been captured by NATO-led troops in southern Afghanistan. The militant leader, who has not yet been identified, was detained during a raid by NATO and Afghan troops on a compound in Helmand province, the alliance said on Wednesday. According to a NATO spokesman, the commander led insurgents in the volatile Panjwaii district of Kandahar province, said NATO spokesman Squadron Leader Dave Marsh. "This seizure of a Taliban commander once again shows that there is nowhere to hide for insurgent leaders," Marsh said. Most of Canada's roughly 2,500 troops serving in Afghanistan are stationed in Kandahar province. Last summer, NATO forces staged Operation Medusa, the largest ground offensive in the alliance's history, in the region. The capture appears to be a victory for NATO forces, said CTV's Paul Workman, reporting from Kandahar. "NATO hasn't given us a name yet and details are really quite vague, but they seem to believe they've arrested a regional commander, somebody who may have been involved in directing attacks against Canadian forces, we don't know, but they believe certainly against NATO forces," Workman told CTV Newsnet.
The alliance said the commander was fleeing another NATO campaign in the region when he was captured in the Gereshk district of Helmand province.
| "Curly-toed slippers don't fail me... ummm... now..." "Stick 'em up, hoser!" "Whut?... Say! Are those mukluks?" "Goin' somewhere, eh?" |
Earlier accounts by Noor Agha Zooak, a spokesman for the governor of the Nangarhar province where the arrest took place, claimed that Hanif and his two companions were detained in a raid at a house further from the border crossing. It was not immediately clear what caused the discrepancy in the accounts. Zooak said Hanif was being questioned by intelligence agents in Nangarhar's capital, Jalalabad.
| "Aaaaaiiiieee! I know nothing! Nothing!" "Nothing, eh? Give him a dose of the plumber's helper, Mahmoud!" "No, no!" [PLUNGE!] |
| "Really, sahib! They are not mine! Somebody left them here!" [PLUNGE!] "Aaaaaiiiiieeee!" |
| "Mahmoud! My knuckle dusters!" |
| "Okay, Zadiullah! Into the barrel wit' yez!" |
| Most of them, of course, were Talibs. And the majority seem to have been bumped off by Canucks. |
