Senior Taliban leader arrested in Pakistan

Declan Walsh in Islamabad Friday March 2, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Pakistan has made its first arrest of a senior Taliban commander, it emerged today, apparently bowing to intense western pressure to get tough on militant leaders sheltering inside its borders.

Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, a former Taliban defence minister, was captured in the western city of Quetta. He is the most senior Taliban official to be apprehended since US-led forces ousted the Islamist movement from power in late 2001.

Western diplomats hope the arrest marks a turning point in policy by Pakistan, which until now has bristled at demands to crack down on Taliban safe havens.

"We are very pleased," said a western official who confirmed the arrest. "It's precisely the sort of thing we have been pressing on the Pakistanis for some time."

Akhund is a leading figure on the Taliban leadership council and is reportedly one of the few confidants of Mullah Muhammad Omar, the fugitive Taliban leader.

His capture in Quetta on Monday lent further credence to suggestions that the city has become a headquarters for the Taliban, claims which have been heatedly denied by Pakistani officials. In January a captured Taliban spokesman said that Mullah Omar was hiding in Quetta. The Pakistani president, General Pervez Musharraf, later retorted that he was "500% sure" Omar was inside Afghanistan.

Mulllah Akhund had been under surveillance in Quetta for some time, the western official said, but it "wasn't clear" why Pakistani law enforcement had not swooped earlier. A crackdown in Quetta could provide an immediate benefit for British forces across the border in southern Afghanistan, who are braced for an expected Taliban spring offensive in the coming weeks.

Today, the Pakistani government appeared to have been caught off guard by leaked reports of Akhund's arrest. Interior minister Ahmed Khan Sherpao said five Afghans had been arrested but he would not confirm if Akhund was among them. The chief military spokesman said he had "no information".

Speculation was rife that the capture had been triggered by Monday's visit of Dick Cheney. The US vice-president urged Gen Musharraf to crack down on militant havens in the tribal belt and Baluchistan province, of which Quetta is the capital.

"Pakistan and the US are in a perfect patron-client relationship where service delivery is very important. Our service is to capture militants," said Dr Ayesha Siddiqa, a defence analyst in Islamabad.

Mr Musharraf is finding it increasingly difficult to balance the demands of his allies with sensitive domestic constraints. The Cheney visit involved some tough talking, said a source familiar with the conversation.

Mr Cheney pressed Gen Musharraf to be more forceful in Waziristan, the lawless tribal area where the US believes al-Qaida is regrouping. The general rejected the demand, saying that a militaristic approach to the tribal areas had failed in the past and could spark a civil war in the future.

Hours later, after Mr Cheney had left for Afghanistan, Mullah Akhund was captured. On Wednesday Gen Musharraf warned foreign "terrorists" to quit the mountainous tribal areas. "They should leave or they will be dealt with," he said.

Gen Musharraf is also under stiff internal pressure. A spate of suicide bombings in the past six weeks has killed almost 50 people.

Today, a bomb seriously wounded a senior anti-terrorist judge in the Punjabi city of Multan and killed at least three people.

Combined with veiled American threats to cut Pakistan's multi-billion pound aid package, the attacks are hardening anti-American sentiment even among moderates.

"We have to look out for ourselves," wrote commentator Ayaz Amir in Dawn newspaper, which broke the news of Mullah Akhund's capture. "We need to close ranks and stop portraying a picture of a house divided and almost at war with itself."

"There is a growing feeling in Pakistan that this is just not working, that we have gotten ourselves trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea," said Talat Masood, a retired general and analyst.