Pakistan captured at least five other prominent militants at about the same time as arresting Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Afghan Taleban’s second-in-command, in Karachi two weeks ago, Afghan and Pakistani officials have revealed.
The arrests appear to represent an important breakthrough in co-operation between Pakistan and the US, which has been pressing Islamabad for years to take stronger action against militants sheltering in its territory.
Among those arrested were Mullah Abdul Salam and Mullah Mir Mohammad — the “shadow governors” of the northern Afghan provinces of Kunduz and Baghlan respectively.
They were detained ten days ago by Pakistani intelligence agents in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan, according to Engineer Mohammad Omar, the Governor of Kunduz.
“Two other Taleban who seem to be their bodyguards were also captured with them,” he told The Times.
The capture of Salam, 35, is especially significant because he commanded the Taleban across northern and northwestern Afghanistan, and masterminded many attacks on German forces based in Kunduz.
Mohammad Dawood, the head of Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security in Kunduz, also said that Salam had been arrested by Pakistani agents.
The men’s capture appears to have coincided roughly with that of Baradar, who led the defence of Kunduz in 2001 in a joint US-Pakistani raid in Karachi, which has been confirmed by both countries.
Looks like the Taliban's underground government is slowly being rolled up. That's what's really needed to show the locals that they can survive without the Islamofascists ru(i)nning the place.
Another similar article.
Two Taliban shadow governors from northern Afghanistan have been arrested by Pakistani authorities, an Afghan official told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The reported arrests occurred about the same time as the capture of the Afghan Taliban's No. 2 figure, who was apprehended in the Pakistani city of Karachi. The loss of several key figures from the militant leadership is likely to be a severe setback to the Taliban — at least in the short term — as they come under military pressure from U.S.-led forces in the south.
Mohammmad Omar, the official governor of Kunduz province, said Mullah Abdul Salam, the Taliban governor of Kunduz and Mullah Mohammad, his counterpart in Baghlan, were arrested about 10 to 12 days ago in Pakistan.
Both were key figures in the Taliban's expansion to northern Afghanistan, where their forces threatened NATO supply lines coming south from Central Asia and raised alarm that the militants were extending their influence nationwide.
Two Pakistani intelligence officials said Salam was arrested in the Pakistani city of Faisalabad. One of the officials said Salam's arrest was the result of information gleaned from Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, second in command after Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
By: Brant
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