Could this be the end of Taliban ?

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Summer3

@Summer3

Trailblazer

+ 2

Posted: 16 years ago

With concerted effort to wipe out the Taliban ( and with the cooperation of both the Afghan and Pakistan local governments) it could severely cripple or even eradicate the Taliban. Unless they find another country to hide in.
The Taliban No. 2, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar has been captured.

The Taliban has a huge network and several extremists' support. But this seems to be the first major success towards eliminating the Taliban.

Taliban commander Mullah Baradar 'seized in Pakistan'

A man described as the top Taliban military commander and named as Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar has been captured in Pakistan, US officials say.

Said to be the Taliban's overall number two, he was seized in a secret US-Pakistani raid in Karachi several days ago, The New York Times reported.

Pakistan has not confirmed the report, and a Taliban spokesman has denied it.

His capture comes amid a major Nato-led offensive against against Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan.

Correspondents say Mullah Baradar is reported to be in charge of all long-term strategic military planning for the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, and if confirmed his arrest will have a very big effect on the Taliban's ability to conduct the insurgency there.

ANALYSIS

Orla Guerin, BBC News, Islamabad

If they have got him, he is a very big catch.

He is the man said to be in control of the battlefields, said to be passing orders down to Taliban commanders currently fighting coalition forces.

The speculation here is focusing on the timing of the operation. One of the interesting things about this commander is that he is believed to favour the holding of talks in Afghanistan, which is a key aim for the coalition.

Some are saying that if he has been arrested, that leaves the chances of talks very limited indeed. Others are saying that, if confirmed, this detention could be an attempt to facilitate some sort of back-channel communications.

There is a lot of speculation and a lot of confusion but very little concrete information.

Senior US officials said Mullah Baradar was "providing intelligence".

"This operation was an enormous success," one official told ABC News.

"It is a very big deal," the official said.

The New York Times, citing US government sources, said the prisoner was the most significant Taliban figure to be detained since the US-led war in Afghanistan began in 2001.

But a Taliban spokesman denied the reports, saying Mullah Baradar was still in Afghanistan actively organising the group's military and political activities.

"He has not been captured. They want to spread this rumour just to divert the attention of people from their defeats in Marjah and confuse the public," Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters news agency, referring to the US-led Nato offensive in the Marjah area of Helmand province.

Guerrilla tactics

Little is known about Mullah Baradar, but he is said to rank second only in influence to the Taliban's spiritual leader, Mullar Muhammad Omar, who has been hiding from Western agencies since the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001.

Senior intelligence officials voiced hope he would provide the location of Mullah Omar.

The BBC's North America editor Mark Mardell, in Washington, says Mullah Baradar is a "big fish" who runs the Taliban's day-to-day operations, both military and financial.

MULLAH BARADAR

Second-in-charge behind Taliban founder Mullah Omar

In charge of Taliban's military operations and financial affairs

Born in Dehrawood District, Uruzgan Province, in 1968

Former defence minister for the Taliban regime

Source: Interpol, news agencies

He allocates Taliban funds, appoints military commanders and designs military tactics, our correspondent says.

Mullah Baradar was quoted last year as telling his troops not to confront US soldiers with their superior firepower, but to operate using guerrilla tactics.

He is said to be responsible for the Taliban tactic of planting "flowers" - improvised explosive devices (IEDs) - along roadsides.

The New York Times said the Karachi raid was conducted by Pakistan's Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and CIA operatives, citing officials.

The newspaper said it learned of the operation on Thursday, but delayed reporting it after a request by White House officials. They said disclosing it would end a very successful intelligence drive.

US officials later acknowledged the news, saying it was becoming broadly known in the region.

According to Interpol Mullah Baradar was born in 1968, and served as deputy minister of defence for the Taliban regime in Afghanistan before it was toppled in 2001.

He has been subject to UN sanctions including a travel ban, an arms embargo and the freezing of assets.

Although little is known for certain about Mullah Baradar, he was reported to have engaged in an e-mail exchange with Newsweek magazine in July 2009, in which he vowed to "inflict maximum losses" on US forces in Afghanistan.

"In every nook and corner of the country, a spirit for jihad is raging," the magazine quoted him as saying.

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Frequent Posters

198646

Suspended

Posted: 16 years ago

It must be juts "Shoot at sight" for these terrorists...only then there can be an end to terrorism.

There is nothing called negotiating with them.

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413185

Suspended

Posted: 16 years ago

Originally posted by: 4teen11
It must be juts "Shoot at sight" for these terrorists...only then there can be an end to terrorism.
There is nothing called negotiating with them.

yup.. off with their heads!

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Summer3

@Summer3

Trailblazer

+ 2

Posted: 16 years ago

Most of the Taliban followers are either brain washed or do so out of fear. It is sad that many of them have to die especially those who are just only kids.
I am always for reconciliation as far as possible and it would have been best if some of them could be shown the proper path.

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_Angie_

@_Angie_

Rocker

Posted: 16 years ago

How about re-washing their brains 😉 😆

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Summer3

@Summer3

Trailblazer

+ 2

Posted: 16 years ago

Originally posted by: angie.4u
How about re-washing their brains 😉 😆

Yes a lot of them are such young kids. The leaders use them due to their greed for wealth from drug monies.

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Summer3

@Summer3

Trailblazer

+ 2

Posted: 16 years ago

The Talibans are not that easy to eradicate as many go into hiding and mix with the local people. The local people themselves will have to wage a war against the Talibans, but problem is that many of the Talibans are their own relatives and friends. Also as long as the people there do not have any work to do or food to eat, they will turn to drugs and other crimes to survive.

Feb 17, 2010

Taleban growing disorganised

MARJAH (Afghanistan) - US AND Afghan forces traded gunfire with insurgents shooting from haystacks in poppy fields on Tuesday as Nato forces progressed against increasingly fitful resistance in the Taleban stronghold of Marjah.

Insurgents tried but failed to bring down an Osprey aircraft with rocket-propelled grenades as Cobra attack helicopters fired missiles at enemy positions, including a machine gun bunker.

Marines and Afghan troops who pushed through four days of sniper fire and homemade bombs finally linked up with units that had been airdropped into town in the first hours of the offensive.

When troops first landed by helicopter in the early hours of Saturday, there had been no fighting, but that soon changed, said Lieutenant Gordon Emmanuel, commander of 2nd Platoon, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines.

Entrenched in a compound deep in town, they have fought heated battles for days, waiting for the ground assault troops to arrive with reinforcements. 'When it is daytime, there is nonstop contact until the sun goes down ... every day,'Lt Emmanuel said. Overall, Marine officials said the resistance seemed to be growing disorganised.

'We're still getting small-arms fire but it's sporadic, and hit-and-run tactics,' said spokesman Captain Abraham Sipe. A Taleban spokesman, however, claimed that insurgents retain control of the town and coalition forces 'descended from helicopters in limited areas of Marjah and now are under siege.' -- AP

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Believe

@-Believe-

Stunner

+ 2

Posted: 16 years ago

India promotes IT and Taliban Group promotes TI (Terrorist industry). Both are earning millions of dollars from the respective industries. But IT is now going through bad times. Whereas TI is flourishing.

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Summer3

@Summer3

Trailblazer

+ 2

Posted: 16 years ago

It is best if the Nato forces train the locals to fight when it is going to be a long drawn affair. Vietnam has been a bitter lesson for the USA. There is too much drug monies involved for the Taliban to give up so easily.

Feb 17, 2010

Long fight ahead

LONDON - AS US-LED troops battle to make progress in a key anti-Taleban push in Afghanistan, experts warn it could be years before the success or otherwise of the mission can be gauged.

Even if insurgents are pushed out temporarily, some Taleban may simply fade into the local community, 'put their Kalashnikovs under the bed' and then 'seep back in' later, warned one.

In Operation Moshtarak, which started on Saturday, 15,000 Afghan, US and Nato forces are fighting to take ground from militants, drive them out and allow the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai to regain control. The operation targeting Marjah, an opium-producing Taleban heartland in Helmand, features the largest deployment of Afghan forces fighting on the frontline since the war began in 2001.

And military commentators in Britain - with 10,000 troops in Afghanistan, the second-biggest foreign contributor - say the role of the Afghan army and police will be vital in determining how the operation is judged long-term.

'We don't know how they can do without the Americans and the British - it's the 64,000 dollar question,' said Phillips O'Brien, director of the Scottish Centre for War Studies at Glasgow University. 'The fighting will be done by the US and British forces to take control but then the Afghans become important.' 'We have to show (the Afghan people) this is not just Americans and Europeans, that they can go to the Afghans.'

Experts say that the mission seems to be progressing relatively well so far. --

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chal_phek_mat

@chal_phek_mat

Inactive

Posted: 16 years ago

#10

Originally posted by: Summer3

It is best if the Nato forces train the locals to fight when it is going to be a long drawn affair. Vietnam has been a bitter lesson for the USA. There is too much drug monies involved for the Taliban to give up so easily.

😆😆😆

Taliban=No Drugs

No Taliban=Drugs

Contrary to your opinion, Taliban is thriving, such that the world has finally resigned to the fact that the future of Afghanistan will have Taliban in it. The Taliban just has to be a little bit moderate and not wacko. This crushing defeat of India's opinion(that all Taliban is bad and should be terminated) has led India to talks with Pakistan

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-willing-to-try-out-good-Taliban/articleshow/5514757.cms

India willing to try out 'good Taliban'

Indrani Bagchi, TNN, Jan 30, 2010, 01.21am IST

ndb/indrani

India reconciles itself with new Afghan reality

Indrani Bagchi/TNN

New Delhi: Swept away by an international "consensus" led by US, UK and Pakistan, India has to swallow a bitter pill on the Taliban. With the London conference on Afghanistan clearing the way for a new chapter on negotiation with the Taliban, India is grudgingly coming round to accepting the new reality.

Speaking exclusively to TOI from London, foreign minister S M Krishna said, "We're willing to give it a try. If the Taliban meet the three conditions put forward -- acceptance of the Afghan constitution, severing connections with Al Qaida and other terrorist groups, and renunciation of violence, and they are accepted in the mainstream of Afghan politics and society, we could do business."

The conference effectively turns a new chapter in Afghanistan with a $500 million fund earmarked for a reconciliation programme. Krishna said, "The international community has come out with a proposition to bring into the political mainstream those willing to function within the Afghan system."

But he was clear about India's fundamental discomfort with the decision. India's position and assessment of the Taliban remains unchanged, Krishna said. "We consider them to be terrorists, who have close links with Al Qaida and other terrorist groups." He said India has seen the Taliban from up close, and more deeply than others ("they see them from far away" and through a blinkered vision). "We're next door and our experiences make it difficult for us to differentiate between good or bad Taliban," he said.

Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, the former Taliban foreign minister, had close links with the hijackers of IC-814, even helping to unload their baggage from the aircraft in Kandahar, and negotiating on their behalf. He has just been taken off the UN sanctions list to "facilitate" the reconciliation.

Krishna said, "For Afghanistan's stabilisation, it is essential for neighbouring and regional countries to ensure that support, sustenance and sanctuaries for terrorist organisations is ended forthwith."

The London conference on Afghanistan set in motion a set of events whose outcome is not yet clear. It's driven by Afghan president Hamid Karzai, who has been pushing the reconciliation drive. India's unenthusiastic acceptance is largely in support of Karzai. But much more than that is the hard fact that on Afghanistan, despite India's huge presence, India's "influence" is negligible. India's objections may be valid, and will probably be borne out in the coming months and years, but for the time being, India does not count.

Pakistan, on the other hand, is calling the shots, despite the fact that majority of Afghans prefer India to Pakistan. But Pakistan is leveraging its continuing and close contacts with the Taliban and Al Qaida leadership to help work out a political deal that can get the US out of Afghanistan. In this, Pakistan's ISI, which has been pilloried for its terror links, is keen to find a way of worming its way back.

Pakistan successfully kept India out of a regional meeting on Afghanistan in Istanbul, but Turkey was acting because both the US and UK subscribe to Pakistan having a much greater role in deciding the future of Afghanistan.

There remains great scepticism in India about Taliban leaders like Mullah Omar, Sirajuddin Haqqani and the Quetta Shura coming into the Afghan mainstream. However, UN officials went on record to say that the UN representative in Afghanistan, Kai Eide, had recently met "active" members of the Taliban leadership and a future meeting is due to be held in Dubai.