Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: Cindy

Surely. But it does sound like there was quite a firefight. And it comes just days after seizing the highest level Taliban leader ever captured . . . the Taliban official best positioned to reveal AQ locations since 9/11.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/01/news/afghan.php

"Things that make you go hmmmmm"


101 posted on 03/03/2007 4:05:35 PM PST by callmejoe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 99 | View Replies ]


To: callmejoe

"Things that make you go hmmmmm"...and smile.


102 posted on 03/03/2007 4:09:16 PM PST by Cindy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 101 | View Replies ]

To: callmejoe; Cindy; fanfan; Velveeta; MamaDearest; Godzilla; nwctwx; All
US and Pakistani agents interrogate Taliban leader
Sunday, March 04, 2007

ISLAMABAD: US and Pakistani agents were interrogating the Taliban’s former defence minister on Saturday in the hope that he can help them hunt down other militant leaders, security officials said.

Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, who had a one-million-dollar bounty on his head posted by the US Central Intelligence Agency, was arrested with four other suspects on Wednesday in Quetta. Pakistani officials said Akhund, a key aide to Taliban supremo Mullah Mohammad Omar and an insurgent commander in southern Afghanistan, was flown to the capital Islamabad by helicopter after his capture. “He is being interrogated by a joint team of Pakistani and US officials in Islamabad,” a senior security official said on condition of anonymity. He did not specify which US agency the officials were from.

“Obaidullah is an important figure in the militant network and the authorities will want to know the strength of the group and its tentacles in Pakistan,” the official added.

Akhund was arrested at a Quetta hotel on the basis of “very solid” intelligence, officials said. Plain-clothes agents picked him up when he arrived at the hotel where the other four suspects were already staying. “It is a major breakthrough and we hope he can lead to the arrest of a few other of the most wanted Taliban commanders,” the security official said. He did not say which other Taliban militants were under scrutiny.

A Taliban spokesman on Friday denied that Akhund had been captured, saying that he was still in Afghanistan. The Pakistani government has yet to officially confirm the arrest. Officials said Akhund would likely have played a key part in Taliban’s spring offensive. A senior government official said there was a greater focus now on Balochistan to flush out Taliban militants hiding in the region. “The law enforcement set-up in the province has been beefed up in the past few months and there is a greater intelligence focus on the Taliban activities in the area.”

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\03\04\story_4-3-2007_pg7_3

105 posted on 03/03/2007 4:36:07 PM PST by Oorang (Tyranny thrives best where government need not fear the wrath of an armed people - Alex Kozinski)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 101 | View Replies ]

To: callmejoe
the Taliban official best positioned to reveal AQ locations since 9/11.

This action would be too quick of a turnaround IMO. I guess he could have had some info on a laptop/pc that could lead to locations--I would be somewhat shocked if he knew exactly where UBL was though.
118 posted on 03/03/2007 7:28:50 PM PST by nwctwx (Everything I need to know, I learned on the Threat Matrix)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 101 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson