Posted on 09/27/2007 12:11:19 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Ministry: Taliban spokesman arrested
By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer
26 minutes ago
A Taliban member who acted as a leading spokesman for the insurgent movement has been arrested in southern Afghanistan, the Interior Ministry said Thursday.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi was taken into custody with his brother during a police operation Wednesday in the village of Sufiyan in the southern province of Helmand, the ministry said in an e-mailed statement. There was no immediate comment from the Taliban.
Ahmadi was the first person many journalists contacted for Taliban comment on violence and kidnappings in Afghanistan.
As the Taliban, who once controlled much of Afghanistan, have stepped up their insurgency against foreign troops and the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai in recent years, they have made increasingly sophisticated efforts to communicate with the media.
But it remains virtually impossible to confirm the identity of Taliban spokesmen because they do not appear in public and communicate only by phone or text message. Nor is it possible to establish their location and ties to the Islamic militia's leadership.
There was no response to calls to Ahmadi after the government announced his arrest on Thursday morning. His phones appeared to be turned off.
But an Associated Press reporter received a text message from his phone at 5:23 a.m. Thursday claiming that a Taliban attack on a checkpoint in southern Uruzgan province killed three police.
Journalists say there are at least four Taliban militants claiming to be Ahmadi. Two AP reporters who have interviewed him several times said they have spoken with other men with different voices who claimed to be Ahmadi. The AP did not use those comments.
Recently there have been two spokesmen — Ahmadi, who covers southern Afghanistan, and Zabiullah Mujahid, who speaks on the militia's activities in the north and east.
Two other spokesmen have been arrested in the past two years and swiftly replaced.
On Jan. 15, Afghan agents arrested Taliban spokesman Mohammad Hanif in eastern Nangarhar province near the border with Pakistan.
Afghanistan's intelligence service later distributed a video CD of what it said was Hanif, 26, being questioned and claiming that Pakistani intelligence was helping to hide Taliban leader Mullah Omar inside Pakistan — a charge denied by Pakistan.
A predecessor of Hanif, Mullah Hakim Latifi, was arrested in 2005 by Pakistani police in southwestern Baluchistan province.
The Taliban ruled most of Afghanistan from the mid-1990s until 2001, imposing an extreme version of Islam and providing refuge for al-Qaida leaders and other Muslim militants from around the world. They were ousted by a U.S.-led coalition following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
After a review of this report, it appears that there a number of potential liars. And, the problem I have is that I can't point my finger in the direction to who the liars are.
Good. Another one bites the dust.
Sounds like psyops should be able to liquidate a lot of these sandtards with just a simple text message. How would they know if it was their glorious leader or a setup for vigin paradise?
Dat guy saying it ain’t so...
Alleged Taliban spokesman denies Interior Ministry report that he was captured
AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer
http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=565093593342411600
That’s always a good way to get them talking amongst each other (lol) Someone’s listening...
Amir Shah is probably on assignment from Lebanon.
‘on assignment from Lebanon’...with the NYT’s (lol)
Therefore, they probably have the right guy.
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