Free Republic

Mullah Omar 'hiding in Pakistan' Muhammad Hanif was seen sitting in a dimly-lit room Taleban leader Mullah Omar is living in Pakistan under the protection of its ISI intelligence agency, a captured Taleban spokesman has said. The spokesman, Muhammad Hanif, made the apparent confession to Afghan agents who videotaped the questioning. Mr Hanif is seen sitting in a dimly-lit room telling agents that Mullah Omar is in the city of Quetta. Correspondents confirm the voice is his. Mullah Omar has not been seen since 2001. Pakistan rejected the claims. 'Baseless' Afghanistan's intelligence agency distributed copies of the video CD to...

The founder of an outlawed Pakistani Islamist terrorist group, blamed by India for deadly bombings on trains in Mumbai in July, was released from detention on Tuesday under a court order. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, former leader of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, was put under house arrest in the city of Lahore in August shortly before he was due to address a rally. Saeed was freed on Aug. 28 on the orders of the Lahore High Court but almost immediately re-arrested under a public order law which allows authorities to detain anyone without trial for up to three months. But a...

KABUL, Afghanistan Afghan President Hamid Karzai told The Associated Press that Mullah Omar, the supreme Taliban leader who headed the repressive Islamist regime ousted by U.S.-led forces five years ago, is hiding in the southeastern Pakistani city of Quetta. Despite U.S. efforts to ease acrimony between two key anti-terror allies, the Afghan leader in an interview late Monday also blamed neighboring Pakistan for a surge in Taliban violence in Afghanistan, and demanded that President Pervez Musharraf crack down on militant sanctuaries.