Posted on 02/19/2010 10:37:35 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Akhtar Soomro/Reuters
New Delhi
Pakistan has reportedly detained two more top Afghan Taliban commanders, building on its arrest of the Taliban's No. 2 man, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, earlier this month. The latest arrests offer further evidence that Islamabad has decided to seriously pressure Afghan insurgents inside its borders.
The question is: Why now? Pakistan weathered years of American pressure to take this step. But only last week did it capture Mr. Baradar in a joint operation with the US. In recent days, it nabbed Mullah Abdul Salam and Mullah Mir Mohammad, both “shadow governors” of northern Afghan provinces. Overnight, it arrested eight or nine militants in Karachi linked to Al Qaeda, wire reports said Thursday.
Details are emerging that Pakistan feared losing influence within peace overtures between the United States and the Afghan Taliban. It may have nabbed Baradar so it would control the strongest potential peace negotiator, while currying US favor with its multiple arrests. But experts on the Taliban are divided over whether the country's recent intervention has moved Islamabad to the center of peace talks – or scuttled them entirely.
"There were reports that Mullah Baradar had been in covert contact with the Americans, and that may not have gone down well with certain people in Pakistan," says Rustam Shah Mohmand, a former Pakistani ambassador ......
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
"The Taliban's trust of the Pakistani government is now absolutely finished [and] the prospects for any negotiations are now completely dim."
fyi
Whoa: More than a dozen Taliban leaders seized by Pakistan intel
This is just ISI operational procedure. Look at their history - release wanted terrorists when things get too hot to bear.
The ISI sleuths don’t “capture”, they just reveal what they knew the whole time.
Actually I think it is because they are scared spitless over Iran being so close to having a nuclear arsenal....
>>ISI sleuths don’t “capture”, they just reveal what they knew the whole time.
Gotta admit, it has worked swimmingly for a couple of decades now.
Why stop when you’re ahead, and ahead they are, coming pretty close to getting their control of Afghania back.
Shades of B. Raman’s 2001 article “AQ as strategic trading cards”.....substitute Talibs now...
Pakistan wants to have influence with/over whoever rules Afghanistan. Their recent actions against the Taliban indicate they don’t think the Taliban will prevail.
Things are getting very interesting. So many opposing opinions can be given as to what is going on. Wonder how long some of these guys will be held behind bars. Days, weeks, months before returning to their huts.
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