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Taliban Leader Is Hiding and Being Protected in Pakistan, Says Spokesman

January 17, 2007 11:28 AM

Mullahomar2_nrFugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar is alive and well and living in Pakistan under the protection of the Pakistan intelligence agency, according to the captured spokesman for the Taliban, Mohammad Hanif.

Hanif was captured in Afghanistan yesterday, and today the Afghan government released video footage of him in which he claims to know the location of Omar.

"He is living in Quetta," says Hanif, "and the ISI [Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency] is protecting him."

"This is as absolutely absurd and ridiculous a statement that one could have," said Major General Shaukat Sultan, the Pakistan military's spokesman.

While Pakistani officials dismiss this statement, the information coincides with secret U.S. military documents obtained by ABC News earlier this year. The documents were part of a U.S. targeting assessment produced in January 2005 and, incredibly, were bought at an Afghanistan street bazaar, just a few hundred feet from the front gate of the U.S. air base in Bagram.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

The documents listed 16 senior level al Qaeda and Taliban leaders, including Omar, as hiding in Pakistan where U.S. troops cannot operate.

U.S. officials said the information was provided to the government of Pakistani Pres. Pervez Musharraf but that the tier-one targets continue to operate inside Pakistan.

January 17, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (26)

User Comments

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time for some covert ops and GET these guys and if a country IS hiding them, cut off ALL US DOLLARS...I'm tired of paying taxes to help support countries that hold out their one hand and flip us off with the other..and we just keep on filling the one hand and see nothing being done with the other...maybe it's getting time for a revolution here....

Posted by: Jim | Jan 17, 2007 11:57:38 AM

What in the world is this adminstration waiting for?

Posted by: Antonia | Jan 17, 2007 11:58:18 AM

Our troops can't operate in Pakistan and the CIA can't find the high level Al Qaeda and Taliban either? This sunds a lot like the Border Patrol not being able to find illegals even though they are hanging out at Home Depot, doesn't it?

Posted by: Don Lester | Jan 17, 2007 12:00:48 PM

Just go get him! Worry about Pakistan later! So much politics and media hype!

Posted by: Gerald | Jan 17, 2007 12:02:54 PM

Why is this any surprise? Their have always been elements in the ISI sympathetic to al Qaeda and the Taliban. Pakistan is a haven for terrorists and extremism. They only do enough in the war on terror so as not to draw the ire of the U.S. The ultimatum that former deputy secretary of state richard armitage put towards this after 9/11 regarding them either being an ally against terror or being bombed backed to the Stone Age needs to be put forth again. Period.

Posted by: Bob | Jan 17, 2007 12:20:40 PM

Why should the US appease Pakistan?

Posted by: I'm not here | Jan 17, 2007 1:33:47 PM

All superheros need super villains: Dubya isn't interested in taking out bin Laden and has said so. It would remove the trademarke face of the War on Terror and remove any need for superhero preznits who can't find their backs with both hands.

Posted by: pzykr | Jan 17, 2007 1:35:48 PM

Nothing about the "War on Terror" has proven to be as claimed; I would not be surprised that U.S. Intel & the Bush Administration not only know these facts, but approve of the "safe-keeping", in order to trot out Al Queda "Boogie-Men" when it suits their need to frighten the sheep..er...voters, or change the subject.

Posted by: neclark | Jan 17, 2007 2:08:39 PM

you know one of the major reasons why WW2 was won, because of carpet bombing. At the start of war careful planning was taken to insure only military targets were bombed....towards the end, if an enemy was hiding in a civilian area and those civilians where not fighting that enemy then by default they must be the enemy as well....therefore bomb them.

Posted by: Aaron C | Jan 17, 2007 4:26:56 PM

As long as we allow refuges for these vermin...they will continue to plot, plan and survive to attack us a another day....

Our inability to finish off the AQ
leaderhsip is our achilles heel...politicans need to let the military fight the war to win and stop interfering

Posted by: major | Jan 18, 2007 12:03:01 AM

TO UNCLE SAM:
-STOP FUNDING THE DICTATORS AROUND THE WORLD FOR OUR SHORT TERM NATIONAL INTEREST. PAKISTAN IS A TERRORIST STATE RULED BY A DICTATOR.

TO ALL THE OTHER DUMB IDIOTS (i.e Aaron):
-STOP MAKING DUMB COMMENTS. WE HAVE NO RIGHT TO KILL INNOCENT PEOPLE. THEY ARE INVOLUNTARILY PARTICIPANTS. ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS FOOD AND SHELTER.

Posted by: jack | Jan 18, 2007 8:22:21 AM

War is War, fight it as such. Door to Door find weapons, destroy them, anyone picks up a weapon, kill them. wipe them out. that will end the war. We have the tools to put a end to it.

Posted by: David | Jan 18, 2007 9:46:02 AM

Hi ALL

I appeal to the world community to divide pakistan into five countries to eliminate terrorism, they are cheaters and are protecting al-quaida, amercan gereral are fools and incapable. carpet bomb the entire nwfp, waziristan, forget world opinion.

Regards

INDIAN

Posted by: INDIAN | Jan 18, 2007 9:59:23 AM

Everything about the war on terror is what it claimed. We were attacked on US soil and thousands lost their lives! It seems people are just putting that in the past and shame on you.
Running and hiding is not the answer. Blaming Bush is not the answer, going after them is the only way. You Bush haters have turned into a cult with you rapid
endless war of words. Talk about sheep.

Posted by: patrice | Jan 18, 2007 11:01:31 AM

divide india into three countries. oh forgot, that happened in the last 50 years. how about india trying to solve its own problem with over population and an outdated caste system and their sikh problem and we'll handle ours. Don't Ya think? By the way, stop stealing our jobs.

Posted by: john | Jan 19, 2007 3:27:24 AM

i wanna know how anyone can even think bush knows what hes doing with the whole war. i dont think he understands what war is. he thinks the internet is the internets like theres more than one. he is not a leader he is a follower.

Posted by: madsin | Jan 19, 2007 10:37:23 AM

i wanna know how anyone can even think bush knows what hes doing with the whole war. i dont think he understands what war is. he thinks the internet is the internets like theres more than one. he is not a leader he is a follower.

Posted by: madsin | Jan 19, 2007 10:38:17 AM

We got a neutered president. What we need is someone with guts. The only way we're going to win is to take the gloves off and start putting on the smackdown. Put the fear of God in them until they are afraid to pull these antics.

Posted by: Lyle | Jan 19, 2007 8:22:23 PM

Look, guys. We never win this war, espcially with those extreme terrorist. We, generation after generaltion will suffer and suffer. You know why? Because we are too much with human right and freedom . Look at China and Russian and see how they fixed their terrorist problems and learn from them. Remember how the Russian gased the theater where both terrorist and innocent hostages died. Remember how China crushed their own people with tanks to stop the Tiananmen Square demonstration. See, China now rich and peaceful, their people are protected. we are here just worrying day by day and don't know where and when we're attacked right at our home by all kind of means. Please people learn from China .... Take my words, that's the only way to win this world domestically and globally. For Iraq, learn from Sadam Hussein, that the only and only way to win the Iraq war. Cruel, unhuman??? We must be unhuman to be human. What is the first reason we went for Iraq war???

Thanks,
Charlie

Posted by: Charlie | Jan 22, 2007 3:09:04 PM

ah nuts...again...instead of being in Iraq we should be cleaning up countries that harbor our enemies...like Pakistan...no more strategic bombing and just carpet bomb the place. If a civilian is harboring an enemy then they too must be an enemy! Old WW2 logic.

Posted by: Aaron C | Jan 23, 2007 1:10:47 PM

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