U.S. participating in Baradar's interogation
On Feb 16, 6:35*am, Jack Linthicum
wrote:
On Feb 16, 6:31*am, Jack Linthicum
wrote:
On Feb 15, 8:12*pm, "Jonathan" wrote:
What is the Pakistani version of Miranda rights? This is cheaper than
Predators and Hellfires. Has Pakistan finally decided that they can't
support the Taliban anywhere, and certainly not inside Pakistan?
February 16, 2010
Secret Joint Raid Captures Taliban’s Top Commander
By MARK MAZZETTI and DEXTER FILKINS
WASHINGTON — The Taliban’s top military commander was captured several
days ago in Karachi, Pakistan, in a secret joint operation by
Pakistani and American intelligence forces, according to American
government officials.
The commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is an Afghan described by
American officials as the most significant Taliban figure to be
detained since the American-led war in Afghanistan started more than
eight years ago. He ranks second in influence only to Mullah Muhammad
Omar, the Taliban’s founder and a close associate of Osama bin Laden
before the Sept. 11 attacks.
Mullah Baradar has been in Pakistani custody for several days, with
American and Pakistani intelligence officials both taking part in
interrogations, according to the officials.
It was unclear whether he was talking, but the officials said his
capture had provided a window into the Taliban and could lead to other
senior officials. Most immediately, they hope he will provide the
whereabouts of Mullah Omar, the one-eyed cleric who is the group’s
spiritual leader.
Disclosure of Mullah Baradar’s capture came as American and Afghan
forces were in the midst of a major offensive in southern Afghanistan.
His capture could cripple the Taliban’s military operations, at least
in the short term, said Bruce O. Riedel, a former C.I.A. officer who
last spring led the Obama administration’s Afghanistan and Pakistan
policy review.
Details of the raid remain murky, but officials said that it had been
carried out by Pakistan’s military spy agency, the Directorate for
Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, and that C.I.A. operatives had
accompanied the Pakistanis.
The New York Times learned of the operation on Thursday, but delayed
reporting it at the request of White House officials, who contended
that making it public would end a hugely successful intelligence-
gathering effort. The officials said that the group’s leaders had been
unaware of Mullah Baradar’s capture and that if it became public they
might cover their tracks and become more careful about communicating
with each other.
The Times is publishing the news now because White House officials
acknowledged that the capture of Mullah Baradar was becoming widely
known in the region.
Several American government officials gave details about the raid on
the condition that they not be named, because the operation was
classified.
American officials believe that besides running the Taliban’s military
operations, Mullah Baradar runs the group’s leadership council, often
called the Quetta Shura because its leaders for years have been
thought to be hiding near Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan Province
in Pakistan.
A spokesman for the Taliban insisted on Tuesday that Baradar was still
free.
“This is just rumor spread by foreigners to divert attention from the
Marja offensive,” said the spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid.
“They are facing big problems in Marja. In reality there is nothing
regarding Baradar’s arrest. He is safe and free and he is in
Afghanistan.”
The participation of Pakistan’s spy service could suggest a new level
of cooperation from Pakistan’s leaders, who have been ambivalent about
American efforts to crush the Taliban. Increasingly, the Americans
say, senior leaders in Pakistan, including the chief of its army, Gen.
Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, have gradually come around to the view that they
can no longer support the Taliban in Afghanistan — as they have
quietly done for years — without endangering themselves. Indeed,
American officials have speculated that Pakistani security officials
could have picked up Mullah Baradar long ago.
The officials said that Pakistan was leading the interrogation of
Mullah Baradar, but that Americans were also involved. The conditions
of the questioning are unclear. In its first week in office, the Obama
administration banned harsh interrogations like waterboarding by
Americans, but the Pakistanis have long been known to subject
prisoners to brutal questioning.
American intelligence officials believe that elements within
Pakistan’s security services have covertly supported the Taliban with
money and logistical help — largely out of a desire to retain some
ally inside Afghanistan for the inevitable day when the Americans
leave.
The ability of the Taliban’s top leaders to operate relatively freely
inside Pakistan has for years been a source of friction between the
ISI and the C.I.A. Americans have complained that they have given ISI
operatives the precise locations of Taliban leaders, but that the
Pakistanis usually refuse to act.
The Pakistanis have countered that the American intelligence was often
outdated, or that faulty information had been fed to the United States
by Afghanistan’s intelligence service.
For the moment it is unclear how the capture of Mullah Baradar will
affect the overall direction of the Taliban, who have so far refused
to disavow Al Qaeda and to accept the Afghan Constitution. American
officials have hoped to win over some midlevel members of the group.
Mr. Riedel, the former C.I.A. official, said that he had not heard
about Mullah Baradar’s capture before being contacted by The Times,
but that the raid constituted a “sea change in Pakistani behavior.”
In recent weeks, American officials have said they have seen
indications that the Pakistani military and spy services may finally
have begun to distance themselves from the Taliban. One Obama
administration official said Monday that the White House had “no
reason to think that anybody was double-dealing at all” in aiding in
the capture of Mullah Baradar.
A parade of American officials traveling to the Pakistani capital have
made the case that the Afghan Taliban are now aligned with groups —
like the Pakistani Taliban — that threaten the stability of the
Pakistani government.
Mullah Baradar oversees the group’s operations across its primary area
of activity in southern and western Afghanistan. While some of the
insurgent groups active in Afghanistan receive only general guidance
from their leaders, the Taliban are believed to be somewhat
hierarchical, with lower-ranking field commanders often taking
directions and orders from their leaders across the border.
In an attempt to improve the Taliban’s image both inside the country
and abroad, Mullah Baradar last year helped issue a “code of conduct”
for Taliban fighters. The handbook, small enough to be carried in the
pocket of each Taliban foot soldier, gave specific guidance about
topics including how to avoid civilian casualties, how to win the
hearts and minds of villagers, and the necessity of limiting suicide
attacks to avoid a backlash.
In recent months, a growing number of Taliban leaders are believed to
have fled to Karachi, a sprawling, chaotic city in southern Pakistan
hundreds of miles from the turbulence of the Afghan frontier. A
diplomat based in Kabul, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said
in an interview last month that Mullah Omar had moved to Karachi, and
that several of his colleagues were there, too.
The leadership council, which includes more than a dozen of the
Taliban’s best-known leaders, charts the overall direction of the war,
assigns Taliban “shadow governors” to run many Afghan provinces and
districts, and chooses battlefield commanders. It also oversees a
number of subcommittees that direct other aspects of the war, like
political, religious and military affairs.
According to Wahid Muzhda, a former Taliban official in Kabul who
stays in touch with former colleagues, the council meets every three
or four months to plot strategy. As recently as three years ago, he
said, the council had 19 members. Since then, six have been killed or
captured. Others have since filled the empty seats, he said.
Among the council members killed were Mullah Dadullah, who died during
a raid by NATO and Afghan forces in 2007. Among the captured were
Mullah Obaidullah, the Taliban defense minister, who reported to Mr.
Baradar.
“The only man more powerful than Baradar is Omar,” Mr. Muzhda said.
“He and Omar cannot meet very often because of security reasons, but
they have a very good relationship.”
Western and Afghan officials familiar with the workings of the
Taliban’s leadership have described Mullah Baradar as one of the
Taliban’s most approachable leaders, and the one most ready to
negotiate with the Afghan government.
Mediators who have worked to resolve kidnappings and other serious
issues have often approached the Taliban leadership through him.
As in the case of the reclusive Mullah Omar, the public details of
Mullah Baradar’s life are murky. According to an Interpol alert, he
was born in 1968 in Weetmak, a village in Afghanistan’s Oruzgan
Province. Terrorism experts describe him as a skilled military leader
who runs many high-level meetings of the Taliban’s top commanders in
Afghanistan.
In answers to questions submitted by Newsweek last summer, Mullah
Baradar said that he could not maintain “continuous contacts” with
Mullah Omar, but that he received advice on “important topics” from
the cleric.
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