[Iran Press TV Latest] Pakistan's government for the first time confirms the presence of Afghanistan's Taliban leadership, known as the Quetta Shura, on the country's soil. Defense Minister, Ahmad Mukhtar, in an exclusive interview with DawnNews, said on Friday that security forces have dealt a severe blow on the Quetta Shura and that it no longer can pose any threat.
The top US Commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, had informed last Friday, the US fears the top Taliban leadership was in Quetta -- Balochistan province's capital -- master-minding attacks on international forces in Afghanistan.
Confirming McChrystal's allegations, the US consul-general in Peshawar said the same day that they do not know where Osama bin Laden is, but said, "We do know that some of the al-Qaeda leadership is sitting in Quetta and that they travel back and forth from Afghanistan to Pakistan."
"We know that they are there. And I think your government also knows this. Whether they want to say this in public or not but I think they know they are there," Candace Putnam added.
However, until this revelation by Pakistan's defense minister, Islamabad had denied the existence of any Taliban leadership or the Quetta Shura in Balochistan.