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| India-Pakistan |
| Minister says Pakistan will not hand captured Taliban leaders to United States |
| 2010-02-19 |
| Pakistan will not turn over the Afghan Taliban's No. 2 leader and two other high-value militants captured this month to the United States, but may deport them to Afghanistan, a senior minister said Friday. Interior Minister Rahman Malik said Pakistani authorities were still questioning Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the most senior Taliban figure arrested since the start of the Afghan war in 2001, and two other senior militants arrested with U.S. assistance in separate operations this month. If it is determined that the militants have not committed any crimes in Pakistan, they will not remain in the country, he said. "First we will see whether they have violated any law," Malik told reporters in Islamabad. "If they have done it, then the law will take its own course against them. "But at the most if they have not done anything, then they will go back to the country of origin, not to USA," Malik said. Pakistani authorities working with the CIA arrested Baradar about two weeks ago in the southern city of Karachi, Pakistani and U.S. officials have said. At about the same time, Pakistani security forces picked up Taliban "shadow governors" for two Afghan provinces, Afghan officials said. A series of raids by Pakistani forces have followed, netting at least nine al-Qaida-linked militants who were sheltering in Pakistan. Missiles fired from a U.S. unmanned drone aircraft on Thursday killed the brother of Afghan Taliban commander Siraj Haqqani, Pakistani intelligence officials said. Taken together, the crackdown could be the most significant blow to the militants since U.S.-led forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to oust the hard-line Islamist Taliban regime for sheltering Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaida network responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said the U.S. was pleased with the recent arrests. He declined to say whether they were the result of better intelligence or an increased willingness by Pakistan to go after suspected militants. "What I will say to you, yet again, is that we are enormously heartened by the fact that the Pakistani government and their military intelligence services increasingly recognize the threat within their midst and are doing something about it," Morrell said. Some of those caught in the recent operations are key figures in the Afghan insurgency, while others are members of militant groups that operate just across the border in Pakistan. Among those arrested were Ameer Muawiya, a bin Laden associate who was in charge of foreign al-Qaida militants in Pakistan's border areas, and Akhunzada Popalzai, also known as Mohammad Younis, a one-time Taliban shadow governor in Zabul province and former police chief in Kabul, according to Mullah Mamamood, a tribal leader in Ghazni province. Others captured in Karachi included Hamza, a former Afghan army commander in Helmand province during Taliban rule, and Abu Riyad al Zarqawi, a liaison with Chechen and Tajik militants in Pakistan's border area, Pakistani officials said. The Taliban shadow governors - Mullah Abdul Salam of Kunduz province and Mullah Mohammad in Baghlan province - were instrumental in expanding Taliban influence in Afghanistan's north, raising fears the insurgency was spreading beyond its base in the south. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #14 If the minks are truly hungry, 3dc, they can be fully clothed and unbound -- it won't matter. Minks are nasty little beasts by all accounts, quite unlike ferrets. But let's not think about such things. Besides, where would they find minks in Pakistan? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-02-19 23:21 |
| #13 Compromise... Just tie them down naked in a room full of hungry minks. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2010-02-19 18:45 |
| #12 #8 - on the money - you forgot lying a-hole. He's part and parcel of the problem with the Jihadi-loving Pakland culture. He strokes internal agitation, invokes Islam, demonizes the west, and then pretends cooperation. A good target, I'd say |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-02-19 17:58 |
| #11 This bit from a graf in the Times: Officials with the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, PakistanÂ’s military spy agency, limited American access to Mullah Baradar, not permitting direct questioning by Central Intelligence Agency officers until about two weeks after the raid, according to American officials who discussed the issue on the condition of anonymity. |
| Posted by: Free Radical 2010-02-19 17:05 |
| #10 Good ideas. After you squeeze 'em dry, shoot them in place. Why chance the US Justice Dept.? |
| Posted by: mojo 2010-02-19 16:38 |
| #9 Large electrical electrodes in each large muscle of your thighs and the current to run through your genitals , clear. BlackBart, it's my understanding based on what I've read here and elsewhere that we stop at waterboarding and sleep deprivation, having determined that the electrode thingy yields bad results as well as being against policy. Oh, and the occasional scantily dressed female interrogator demonstrating who really is the bad guy's daddy. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-02-19 15:10 |
| #8 Malik is a 2 faced bastard. He says one thing and it will be different next week. |
| Posted by: Shineng Ebbolush2214 2010-02-19 14:03 |
| #7 BBart- what I was trying to say (poorly) was that the Pakistanis (the ISI) aren't going to come out second best in any interrogation they run. What we (US) get will be in their (PAK/ISI) best interest, not ours. |
| Posted by: Free Radical 2010-02-19 12:18 |
| #6 FreeRadical...whatever works. I am no stickler for HOW we get what we want. Debriefing is a detailed, meticulous process, could take a while, you do it over and over and over and compare replies. Cross reference. Its a study and can be very productive. But it isnt fast. Actionable tactical Intell isnt usually available in a debriefing. The Fear of God is, and always should be, a real application. It was what the Inquisition called "showing the accused the Instruments". there should be no doubt in everybody's mind that if we dont get what we want in a profitable manner we will KILL you. And we wont be particularly nice about how we do it. I would want that made very clear..forcefully clear, explicitly clear. Large electrical electrodes in each large muscle of your thighs and the current to run through your genitals , clear. just a demo...and then some tea. |
| Posted by: BlackBart 2010-02-19 10:26 |
| #5 As one Taliban leader once said we cant upset our masters(Pak army) otherwise we will be sold to slaughter(USA) |
| Posted by: Paul2 2010-02-19 10:23 |
| #4 To twist a phrase: They may be assholes, but they're Pakistan's assholes. My guess: they will be debriefed, told what to say to Americans, and loosed again in the world. If any don't cooperate, they will be held, kept away from our people, and eventually killed. |
| Posted by: Free Radical 2010-02-19 09:56 |
| #3 Ahhh yes, 'Extraordinary Rendition.' Of course we no longer do it here. Two days after President Barack Obama was sworn into office, on January 22, 2009, he signed an executive order entitled Ensuring Lawful Interrogations. This order specifically addresses the practice of transferring individuals to other nations in order to ensure that such practices comply with the domestic laws, international obligations, and policies of the United States.[8] It establishes a committee that will provide recommendations within 180 days of the executive order. It specifically has as its goal a process to ensure that the United States practices do not result in the transfer of individuals to other nations to face torture or otherwise for the purpose, or with the effect, of undermining or circumventing the commitments or obligations of the United States to ensure the humane treatment of individuals in its custody or control. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-02-19 09:49 |
| #2 Observance of the Law is VERY important. And when you "deport" him back to Afghanistan and he gets off the bus....we can welcome him back. Some money may have to change hands and the ticket gets punched(as it were). Just so long as the ticket gets punched quietly. Put him off the bus in Goombah at about three in the morning..we will take it from there. Put him a big canvas Mailbag with lots of masking take around his mouth and some fiberglass tie-ties on his wrists. And after that....we put him in the Jeep for a trip to the airport. Then a pleasant flight to an Island in the Andaman's in the Indian Ocean and a thorough makeover ...and then...the seaturtles. |
| Posted by: BlackBart 2010-02-19 09:47 |
| #1 Interesting that a statement like this should come from this chap . For a bit of background , he was drugs tzar , anti corruption campaigner , been proactive against Islamist militants and has good rep with interpol and other national agencies . But certain clouds loom over him as regards Bhutos assasination Reading between the lines a little : "But at the most if they have not done anything, then they will go back to the country of origin, not to USA," Malik said. Says , to me , once we have finished with them then you lot can have a play, considering who has said it. |
| Posted by: Oscar 2010-02-19 09:40 |