http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/arrests-severe-blow-to-taliban/story-e6frg6so-1225832347092
Arrests 'severe blow'' to Taliban Amanda Hodge, South Asia correspondent From: The Australian February 20, 2010 12:00AM PAKISTANI and US forces have arrested a further five senior Afghan Taliban commanders, raising hopes that Islamabad is finally cutting ties with its militant neighbours. The arrests, which included two shadow Afghan Taliban governors, were believed to have occurred about the time the organisation's No 2 commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, was arrested in the southern Pakistan city of Karachi last week. News of the arrests came yesterday as reports suggested Mohammad Haqqani, son of the most wanted Afghan Taliban commander, Jalaluddin Haqqani, had been killed in a US drone attack on a North Waziristan militant hideout. All five senior militants taken in the past fortnight were said to be members of the Taliban's Quetta Shura, a supreme council of commanders believed to control the Afghan insurgency from Pakistan. Afghanistan's governor for Kunduz yesterday confirmed that the Taliban shadow governor for his region, Mullah Abdul Salam, and the shadow governor for Baghlan, Mullah Mohammad, were among those detained. Since its ousting from government in 2001, the Taliban has built a network of proxy provincial leaders, whose primary responsibility is organising military activities across Afghanistan. Mohammad Omar said his information about their capture, which occurred nearly a week ago, was "based on national intelligence sources". Two Taliban bodyguards were also arrested with the shadow governors, while another three suspected senior militants were being questioned by Pakistani intelligence officers. Among them was Ameer Muawiya, an associate of Osama bin Laden, who is believed to command foreign al-Qa'ida militants operating in Pakistan's northwestern tribal regions, and Akhunzada Popalzai, a former Taliban shadow governor of Zabul province in Afghanistan and Kabul police chief under the Taliban government. The third person was identified only as Hamza, a former Afghan army commander in Helmand province under the Taliban's rule. The US has hailed the arrests as a severe blow to the Afghan militant insurgency. "I don't want to use the term `Quetta Shura' because some people in Pakistan don't like it, but these people arrested belong to the supreme command of the Taliban," US special envoy to the region Richard Holbrooke said yesterday during his eighth trip to Pakistan in a year. Mr Holbrooke said the arrests were "good news after a long time of bad news" and were symbolic of a new level of co-operation with Pakistan. Pakistan reportedly gave permission late last month for US intelligence officials to expand surveillance activities in Karachi and the arrests of Baradar, head of the Quetta Shura and second only to supreme commander Mullah Omar, and the two shadow governors occurred after US intelligence officers handed over intercepted Taliban communications. The US has long accused Pakistan of playing a double game over Afghanistan, promising co-operation in the war against terror while covertly supporting the Afghan Taliban to maintain control over its western neighbour and counter growing Indian influence there. But a Pakistani intelligence official told the Washington Post yesterday that the latest arrests were a direct result of the US finally providing Pakistan with the concrete intelligence it had long sought on Taliban leaders' whereabouts. "We are dependent on technical intelligence being provided by the US . . . That is exactly what happened here," the Inter-services intelligence official said. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi insisted the arrests were not driven by US pressure, but fear of Taliban influence in Pakistan. But former CIA officer Bruce Riedel, who last year led a White House review of its Afghan strategy, yesterday cast doubt on Pakistan's motives. "Does it mean the ISI is fully on board? I doubt it," he said, while adding it was "a significant step in the right direction". [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
