'Quetta is the new Taliban HQ'

The Pakistani province of Quetta has become the new headquarters of the Taliban, with militia leaders living openly in the province, raising money and preparing for attacks on security forces in Afghanistan, according to a US daily.

“Thousands of Taliban fighters reside in mosques and madrassas with the full support of a provincial ruling party and militant Pakistani groups. Taliban leaders wanted by the US and Kabul governments are living openly in nearby villages,” the Washington Post said quoting a recent report in Pakistani media.

The report by Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid quoted the provincial government’s information minister as saying, “Only the Taliban can constitute the real government of Afghanistan.”

The Taliban leaders and their followers are not ensconced in remote caves or dispersed across trackless badlands but operate openly in a major city, where they effectively control several neighbourhoods, the paper said.

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