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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)

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If them librals in Washington would just get off of President Bush's back the war on terror would have been over with by now.

Posted by: Husker bob | Jan 25, 2007 2:18:43 PM

My book "DIVIDE PAKISTAN TO ELIMINATE TERRORISM" is the best answer to all problems pertaining to international terrorism. The root cause of terrorism exists on the soil of Pakistan. If Pakistan is disintegrated, this will destroy the entire terrorist network being nurtured by Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan and radical religious cult called TABLIGHI JAMAT (which is mother organization of all fanatic Jihadist groups).

Posted by: SYED JAMALUDDIN | Feb 27, 2007 6:18:26 PM

well john, if Americans aren't smart enough to do their own jobs, we cannot blame the Indians. As for dividing India, the problem with this so called American led "war on terror" is that Americans don't even know who their real enemies are. Instead of targetting the real islamists in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia they for no reason want to fight Iraq and Iran, nations that have nothing to do with terrorism. And as per you statement of dividing India, the only reason India was divided was the mindset which breeds intolerance and hatred.

Posted by: Kay | Mar 15, 2007 6:34:03 PM

In my opinion, the book titled "DIVIDE PAKISTAN TO ELIMINATE TERRORISM" is a must-read book for all politicians in USA and Europe as the book has opened eyes concerning Pakistan's involvement in promotion of terrorism. The author Syed Jamaluddin has correctly pointed out that by dividing Pakistan, the terrorist network can be destructed and vanished permanently. I fully agree with Syed Jamaluddin when he argues to divide Pakistan by forming 5 or 6 new states in South Asia. Syed Jamaluddin is the first person who started the debate about Pakistan' disintegration in November 2006 by writing this great book. Now, everybody is saying the same thing all over the world. My appreciation for Syed Jamaluddin. If Pakistan finally disintegrates, I guess Syed Jamaluddin should be awarded NOBEL PEACE PRIZE.

Posted by: Robert B. Vekich | Apr 28, 2008 9:40:07 PM

What I am saying is very simple. Urdu-speaking people living in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur and other cities in the province of Sindh (Pakistan) deserve their own country. An independent country for Urdu-speaking people will solve their economic problems on one hand and provide an environment of freedom from the military dictatorship of Punjab province on the other. Time has now come that the cruel domination of Punjab must end by all means. The Punjabi military has been ruling Pakistan ever since its inception. The Urdu-speaking great leaders who had struggled for the freedom of Pakistan were brutally murdered as part of the Punjabi conspiracy to hijack the country. It has become inevitable now that Punjab should no longer be given the right or power to continue its control on other smaller provinces of Pakistan. At least Sindhis, Pathans and Balochis have some of their regional identities but the Urdu-speaking people have been compelled to become Sindhis which is not possible. Urdu-speaking people have their own identity and worth. It is not possible for Urdu-speaking people to become part of Sindh. This attempt to make Urdu-speaking people part of Sindh has always failed. This fact that Urdu-speaking people are independent in their thinking and are able to represent themselves more effectively if they are independent, should be accepted and recognized by the whole world.

Posted by: Lere Ayanwola | Sep 23, 2008 10:31:34 AM

That picture isn't of Mullah Omar, there are only 2 pictures of him. The one showing him face on in a turban with most of the background cropped out- most likely taken in a photographers studio in Kandahar or Jalalabad and the picture of him on the roof of the Shrine of the Cloak of the Prophet when he appeared to the people wearing the Cloak of the Prophet.

Posted by: N Higgins | Apr 6, 2009 12:53:22 PM

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