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Major Taliban Leader Arrested; Cheney Pakistan Trip Credited
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ShareMarch 01, 2007 4:00 PM
The reported arrest of at least one top Taliban leader in Quetta, Pakistan may be the first sign that Vice President Dick Cheney's trip there this week worked.
Pakistani officials identified one of the men as Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, considered the third in command of the Taliban.
The arrest reportedly came only hours after Vice President Cheney left Pakistan, after confronting President Pervez Musharraf with "compelling evidence" of the resurgence of the Taliban and al Qaeda in Pakistan.
"His arrest would be huge, if confirmed," said Barnett Rubin, a New York University professor who testified today before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the resurgence of the Taliban in Pakistan.
It was the first time Pakistan had arrested a senior leader of the Islamist militia since it was driven from power in Afghanistan in 2001, and thousands of its fighters fled into Pakistan.
As ABC News has reported, the failure of Musharraf government to actively pursue Taliban leaders has long been a sore subject with U.S. officials.
Intelligence sources said Akhund may know the secret whereabouts of Taliban leader Mullah Omar, and perhaps of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahri.
In the 1990s, Akhund served as the military liaison between the Taliban and the Pakistan's security service, the ISI, which has been accused of sheltering Taliban leaders since the U.S. invasion.
Habibullah Khan contributed to this report.
March 1, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (30)
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When you people learn? They don't
hate the americans, just the gov.
If you found yourself getting killed because they are bombing the gov. it is only because the gov. placed you in front to save his self.
Posted by: justanotheropeneye | Mar 2, 2007 1:16:31 AM
Wow! Pretty generous and complimentary report by the so-called "liberal" media.
Posted by: Andy Norris | Mar 2, 2007 6:27:55 AM
Hitler learned the hard way. Do not fight two fronts. Did we learn from this history? Do not fight two fronts.
During World War Two we were forced to. So Bush two fronts? How smart are we?
Posted by: Chuck Lambdin | Mar 2, 2007 11:15:51 AM
Before we canonize the VP, let's remember the stick he wielded over Musharraf: 'if you don't cooperate, the Democratic Congress will reduce foreign aid to Pakistan.' Can ABC get that right? Probably not.
Posted by: Don A. | Mar 2, 2007 2:16:39 PM
Why not capture Bin Laden? The whole world has been told where he is? Why not hold Musharraf's toes to the fire to get him once and for all? I wonder if OSL is dead as some claim. It does seem odd that Bush isn't going after him anymore. More propaganda to keep us scared of the 'terr-er-ists...'
Posted by: Toni | Mar 2, 2007 3:24:03 PM
If Cheney's visit to Pakistan is all it took to arrest Taliban leaders, why didn't Cheney visit four years ago?????? Oh, that's right, if he had gone there four years ago, he and all of his buddies wouldn't have made millions of dollars from the war.
Posted by: Steve | Mar 2, 2007 9:42:12 PM
All the idiots come out of the wood work with their conspiracy theories and facts twisted to hell. Is paranoia the norm with these people?
Posted by: Jim | Mar 6, 2007 12:22:54 PM
Realist said: "
Are you aware of the fact that during the 1980s (Reagan era) the US was the biggest sponsor of Jihad in the world? At that time the Muslim terrorists were your allies. If the US had not organized, armed and funded the Jihadis, there would be no Al Qaeda....."
So, then, instead of trying to CONTAIN the problem, which was our foreign policy at the time and the reason we supported Bin Laden (not because we thought he was such a great guy), we should have invaded Iran, Iraq, and any other problem nations? Maybe we should have implemented the Bush doctrine of killing our enemies instead of the policy of CONTAINMENT. However, what doesn't make any sense is why someone who recognizes that CONTAINMENT is a bad foreign policy, would then want to run away from Iraq, and go back to a strategy of CONTAINMENT.
Posted by: Jon | Mar 6, 2007 3:10:46 PM
sure seems coincidental the #3 man is caught right after cheney leaves.. thats almost like, ok here ya go, now shut the heck up..
Posted by: bryan lawson | Mar 7, 2007 3:14:31 AM
a dozen more trips to pakistan and cheney will get osama and all the others ! haha
Posted by: Matth3w | Mar 10, 2007 12:44:14 PM
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