Friday
Feb192010
Afghanistan Mystery: What's Behind the US, Pakistan, and the Captured Mullah?
Friday, February 19, 2010 at 9:55 
UPDATE 1145 GMT: The Washington Post this morning has a very different view of US-Pakistan relations and the Mullah Baradar case:The capture of senior Afghan Taliban leaders in Pakistan represents the culmination of months of pressure by the Obama administration on Pakistan's powerful security forces to side with the United States as its troops wage war in Afghanistan, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials.
A new level of cooperation includes Pakistani permission late last month for U.S. intelligence officials to station personnel and technology in this pulsating megacity, officials said. Intercepted real-time communications handed over to Pakistani intelligence officials have led to the arrests in recent days of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Afghan Taliban's No. 2 commander, and two of the group's "shadow" governors for northern Afghanistan.
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Gareth Porter, writing for Inter Press Service, goes behind the official story of the US-Pakistan joint operation to break the "Old Taliban" in Afghanistan with the capture of the organisation's second-ranking leader:
Contrary to initial U.S. suggestions that it signals reduced Pakistani support for the Taliban, the detention of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the operational leader of the Afghan Taliban, represents a shift by Pakistan to more open support for the Taliban in preparation for a peace settlement and U.S. withdrawal.
Afghanistan: The Latest on the US Military-Covert Offensive
Statements by Pakistani officials to journalists prior to the arrest indicate that the decision to put Baradar in custody is aimed at ensuring that the Taliban role in peace negotiations serves Pakistani interests. They also suggest that Pakistani military leaders view Baradar as an asset in those negotiations rather than an adversary to be removed from the conflict.
Pakistan has long viewed the military and political power of the Taliban as Pakistan's primary strategic asset in countering Indian influence in Afghanistan, which remains its main concern in the conflict.
tagged Ahmed Rashid, Cetnral Intelligence Agency, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Gareth Porter, Inter Press Service, Inter-Services Intelligence, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, New York Review of Books, Pakistan, Taliban, The capture of senior Afghan Taliban leaders in Pakistan represents the culminat, Washington Post, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials. A new level of cooperation includes P, al-Qaeda, and two of the group's "shadow" governors for northern Afghanistan., officials said. Intercepted real-time communications handed over to Pakistani in, the Afghan Taliban's No. 2 commander in Afghanistan, India & Pakistan
Ahmed Rashid, Cetnral Intelligence Agency, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Gareth Porter, Inter Press Service, Inter-Services Intelligence, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, New York Review of Books, Pakistan, Taliban, The capture of senior Afghan Taliban leaders in Pakistan represents the culminat, Washington Post, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials. A new level of cooperation includes P, al-Qaeda, and two of the group's "shadow" governors for northern Afghanistan., officials said. Intercepted real-time communications handed over to Pakistani in, the Afghan Taliban's No. 2 commander in Afghanistan, India & Pakistan
Reader Comments (1)
Pakistan will do anything to keep India out of Afghanistan. So recent discussions about bringing India into the conflict so the United States and NATO can leave must have Pakistan concerned. Pakistan wants an Afghan Taliban that doesn't cause the kind of trouble that would lead outside parties to invade again. I suspect a peace settlement leading to a unity government of the Taliban and the present Afghan government followed by the withdraw of all foreign troops from Afghanistan would suit Pakistan just fine. But the Taliban will not accept this unless they are forced to. Holding Taliban leaders in custody would help make this possible.