[Coop]

It would seem to me that rebel leaders caught in raids in Afghanistan would be referred to as arrested. But rebel leaders caught in clandestine raids in Pakistan would necessarily be referred to as snatched.

That's how I interpreted it. We'll never know for sure until if/when our special forces nab OBL or Ayman al-Z.

[AdmSmith]

Mullah Omar's security chief captured
Tue Dec 14, 2004 10:45 AM GMT

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=638325

By Mirwais Afghan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan security forces have captured Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar's personal security chief as he travelled in a van to the southern city of Kandahar, provincial officials have told Reuters.

The capture of Toor Mullah Naqibullah Khan, who headed Mullah Omar's household security, could help U.S. and Afghan forces track down his boss, one of the most wanted fugitives in the U.S.-led war on terror.

Osama bin Laden, who ran his al Qaeda network in Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban, is also believed to be at large in the region.

"We have arrested top Taliban figures Toor Mullah Naqibullah Khan and Mullah Qayoom Angar on the way between Arghandab and Kandahar. They were carrying a satellite telephone and some important documents," said a senior Kandahar security official, who requested anonymity.

"We are hopeful we will arrest more Taliban figures and we hope that we can arrest their leader Mullah Omar," he said on Tuesday.

Khalid Pashtun, spokesman for the provincial government, confirmed the arrests.

With the latest capture, security forces have picked up at least 19 militants since Saturday night, including the brother of a former Taliban governor of Kandahar.

Naqibullah Khan was unarmed when he was arrested with Angar, another Taliban commander, on Monday evening. The security official said they were picked up following a tip-off from a Taliban insider.

Mullah Omar's Taliban militia have been waging an insurgency in the south and southeast of Afghanistan since they were driven from power in late 2001 by U.S. and Afghan forces after al Qaeda attacked the United States on September 11.

The Taliban's most senior military commander played down the significance of the arrests.

"Maybe they are ordinary Taliban," Mullah Dadullah, one of the movement's 10-member leadership council, told Reuters by satellite telephone.

But Pashtun said Naqibullah Khan was a dangerous killer who was still in charge of security for Mullah Omar.

"During the (October presidential) election this man killed nine government intelligence agents in the Meyansheen district of Kandahar province," he said.

The commander of U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General David Barno, said last week intelligence showed the Taliban in turmoil over whether to give up their fight and accept an offer of reconciliation from President Hamid Karzai.

Karzai, who won a strong mandate in the country's first presidential election on October 9, has offered to let Taliban fighters resume a peaceful life.

"We see indications that there are arguments even among the leadership about whether it's time to accept reconciliation with the Afghan government," Barno told Reuters last Thursday.

That optimism was shared by former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, whose own government collapsed in the mid-1990s amid a civil war that paved the way for the Taliban's takeover.

"I think the Taliban problem will be solved through the negotiations started by the government ... I think there will not be big problems," Rabbani told Reuters on Sunday, adding that traditional tribal councils could play a role.

Some Taliban figures will be shown no clemency because of the gravity of their crimes against the nation, officials say. The government, with input from U.S. authorities, is expected to draw up a list of militants who will not be accepted back in the fold.

Last week, U.S.-led forces launched a winter offensive called "Operation Lightning Freedom" aimed a preventing the Taliban from regrouping to pose a threat to a parliamentary election due in April, after their failure to disrupt the presidential poll.

There are about 18,000 U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan helping Afghan security forces hunt down Taliban guerrillas and some rare al Qaeda remnants still in the country.

In addition, there are about 8,400 NATO-led peacekeepers providing security in Kabul and the more peaceful North.