Pakistan’s military yesterday confirmed the arrest of the Afghan Taliban’s No. 2 leader, a potentially major blow to the militant movement just as newly bolstered US troops wage a major offensive in Afghanistan’s south.
US and Pakistani officials said on condition of anonymity on Tuesday that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was arrested around 10 days ago in a joint operation by CIA and Pakistani security forces in the southern port city of Karachi. The army statement yesterday was the first public confirmation of the arrest.
“At the conclusion of detailed identification procedures, it has been confirmed that one of the persons arrested happens to be Mullah Baradar,” chief army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said in a written message to reporters. “The place of arrest and operational details cannot be released due to security reasons.”
PHOTO: REUTERS
Baradar was the second in command behind Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar and was said to be in charge of the day-to-day running of the organization’s leadership council, which is believed based in Pakistan. He was a founding member of the Taliban and is the most important figure of the hard-line Islamist movement to be arrested since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
The White House has declined to confirm Baradar’s capture, though spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters the fight against extremists involves sensitive intelligence matters and he believes it’s best to collect that information without talking about it.
Baradar, who also functioned as the link between Mullah Omar and field commanders, has been in detention for more than 10 days and was talking to interrogators, two Pakistani intelligence officials said on Tuesday.
One said Baradar had provided “useful information” to them and that Pakistan had shared it with their US counterparts.
Baradar’s arrest suggests the powerful Pakistani intelligence services are ready to deny Afghan militant leaders a safe haven in Pakistan — something critics have long accused them of doing.
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