Richard
09-11-2009, 07:11
Interesting comment hi-lighted in orange. ;)
Richard's $.02 :munchin
Pakistan Says It Has Seized Senior Taliban Leader
Jane Perlez and Pir Zubair Shah, NYT, 11 Sep 2009
The Pakistani Army announced Friday that security forces have arrested a senior leader of the Taliban in the troubled area of Swat where the military has largely put down a militant insurgency.
The arrest of Muslim Khan, the spokesman of the Taliban in Swat and a skilled public advocate for the militant cause, is the first capture of a senior leader to be officially announced by the Pakistani authorities.
The announcement appeared to be timed for the eighth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, and to impress the Obama administration with the seriousness of the military endeavor here in Swat.
Senior American commanders have complimented the Pakistani military in recent weeks on their operation in Swat, even as the Americans urge the Pakistani Army to extend its operations to Waziristan where Taliban militants cross into Afghanistan to fight NATO-led forces.
Mr. Khan was arrested along with Mahmood Khan, a less senior commander, and three others, the statement by Inter Services Public Relations, the press department of the Pakistani military, said.
The statement did not say when Mr. Khan was arrested. There were some suggestions from officials that Mr. Khan was arrested some days ago and the announcement was delayed for the 9/11 anniversary.
An account in the Friday edition of the News, a prominent English-language daily, said Mr. Khan was arrested eight days ago after he and the four other men were lured to Islamabad by the military under the pretext of negotiations over how the Swat Valley would be governed.
The trap succeeded because the Taliban had indicated that they preferred to deal with the military rather than representatives of the civilian government. The goal of the Taliban, according to the account, was to obtain an agreement from security forces to sanction the restoration of Islamic religious rule that would also allow the military to withdraw from the Swat.
Mr. Khan was often seen on Pakistani television sitting on the floor of his office, dressed in a shawl and baggy pants with a long flowing gray beard. Unlike most Taliban, he spoke reasonable English with an American accent, acquired during several years in the United States. He was deported from America after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
“He was the one who was very polite, not harsh,” said Rashid Iqbal, a journalist in Swat, and editor of the daily newspaper Chaand. Mr. Khan was not religious or particularly interested in Islam, Mr. Iqbal said. “It was only power.”
The arrest of Mr. Khan comes after bitter complaints from the civilians in Swat that the top leaders of the Taliban remain at large. More than a million residents were ordered to leave Swat in May, and they endured more than two months of life in miserable conditions in camps for the displaced in North-West Frontier Province. They started returning in mid-July to find the Taliban gone from Swat’s main town, Mingora, but its leadership apparently still intact.
The whereabouts of the leader of the Swat Taliban, Maulvi Fazullah, is not known, according to military officials. Another leader, Ibn Amin, who terrorized the area of Matta, a Taliban stronghold, also remains at large, residents say.
Another potent leader, Shah Doran, who was responsible for harsh — and illegal — radio broadcasts, is believed to be dead, the military has said. But there has not been a formal announcement of his death.
Muslim Khan worked as a house painter in the United States, and in the 1990s was in Kuwait, according to Sher Shah, who owned a pharmacy in rural Swat where Mr. Khan once worked.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/12/world/asia/12pstan-.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Richard's $.02 :munchin
Pakistan Says It Has Seized Senior Taliban Leader
Jane Perlez and Pir Zubair Shah, NYT, 11 Sep 2009
The Pakistani Army announced Friday that security forces have arrested a senior leader of the Taliban in the troubled area of Swat where the military has largely put down a militant insurgency.
The arrest of Muslim Khan, the spokesman of the Taliban in Swat and a skilled public advocate for the militant cause, is the first capture of a senior leader to be officially announced by the Pakistani authorities.
The announcement appeared to be timed for the eighth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, and to impress the Obama administration with the seriousness of the military endeavor here in Swat.
Senior American commanders have complimented the Pakistani military in recent weeks on their operation in Swat, even as the Americans urge the Pakistani Army to extend its operations to Waziristan where Taliban militants cross into Afghanistan to fight NATO-led forces.
Mr. Khan was arrested along with Mahmood Khan, a less senior commander, and three others, the statement by Inter Services Public Relations, the press department of the Pakistani military, said.
The statement did not say when Mr. Khan was arrested. There were some suggestions from officials that Mr. Khan was arrested some days ago and the announcement was delayed for the 9/11 anniversary.
An account in the Friday edition of the News, a prominent English-language daily, said Mr. Khan was arrested eight days ago after he and the four other men were lured to Islamabad by the military under the pretext of negotiations over how the Swat Valley would be governed.
The trap succeeded because the Taliban had indicated that they preferred to deal with the military rather than representatives of the civilian government. The goal of the Taliban, according to the account, was to obtain an agreement from security forces to sanction the restoration of Islamic religious rule that would also allow the military to withdraw from the Swat.
Mr. Khan was often seen on Pakistani television sitting on the floor of his office, dressed in a shawl and baggy pants with a long flowing gray beard. Unlike most Taliban, he spoke reasonable English with an American accent, acquired during several years in the United States. He was deported from America after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
“He was the one who was very polite, not harsh,” said Rashid Iqbal, a journalist in Swat, and editor of the daily newspaper Chaand. Mr. Khan was not religious or particularly interested in Islam, Mr. Iqbal said. “It was only power.”
The arrest of Mr. Khan comes after bitter complaints from the civilians in Swat that the top leaders of the Taliban remain at large. More than a million residents were ordered to leave Swat in May, and they endured more than two months of life in miserable conditions in camps for the displaced in North-West Frontier Province. They started returning in mid-July to find the Taliban gone from Swat’s main town, Mingora, but its leadership apparently still intact.
The whereabouts of the leader of the Swat Taliban, Maulvi Fazullah, is not known, according to military officials. Another leader, Ibn Amin, who terrorized the area of Matta, a Taliban stronghold, also remains at large, residents say.
Another potent leader, Shah Doran, who was responsible for harsh — and illegal — radio broadcasts, is believed to be dead, the military has said. But there has not been a formal announcement of his death.
Muslim Khan worked as a house painter in the United States, and in the 1990s was in Kuwait, according to Sher Shah, who owned a pharmacy in rural Swat where Mr. Khan once worked.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/12/world/asia/12pstan-.html?partner=rss&emc=rss