Information provided by the recently captured Taliban second in command, Abdul Ghani Barader led to the arrest of two additional senior Taliban leaders inside Pakistan, highly placed sources in Islamabad told Examiner Thursday.
Mullah Abdul Salam and Mullah Mohammed both self-proclaimed governors of two key provinces in Afghanistan were arrested by Pakistan Inter Services Intelligence, Pakistani officials have confirmed.
“These were two separate raids conducted chiefly by the ISI,” said an Intelligence source in Pakistan’s capital. He, however, insisted that Americans may have had only ancillary role in the latest bout of success against the Taliban. “We are getting good- actionable intelligence from him,” he said referring to the recently arrested Barader.
Mullah Abdul Salam ran the Taliban’s shadow government in the province of Kunduz and Mullah Mohammed ran their operation the Afghan province of Baghlan.
Kunduz and Baghlan provinces had fallen to the Taliban but Obama administration’s re-engagement in Afghanistan seems to be yielding result. Both of these leaders had sneaked into Pakistan recently, reports suggest.
ISI, our sources claim, is on a major mission to capture the Taliban leaders that have snuck in since 2001. “Arrest of Baradar and these two governors are clear indication that ISI has turned on the heat,” said a security analyst Mohammad Jawaid.
Quoting American officials, New York Times reported Thursday that the Taliban’s second in command Baradar was providing a wealth of information on the Taliban’s operations. “For the past several days, he has been interrogated by both Pakistani and American officials,” report said.
With recent progress, ISI seems to be winning hearts and minds of American media and security analysts.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday told BBC that the Pakistani leadership “recognises that standing firm against the threat is important to the country’s future”.
In an interview to BBC in Saudi Arabia she said: “I would underscore, that the cooperation is increasing, and it is very valuable.” She further added: “I can express our appreciation for the increasing cooperation between the United States and Pakistan.”
“Pakistan’s military leadership has turned around and now we can witness the sincerity in their action,” said a terrorism expert on MSNBC this morning.
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