Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar Captured In Karachi

Run time: 06:02 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv0rlx0qq1U   Posted on YouTube: February 16, 2010 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: February 17, 2010 By DU Member: democracy1st Views on DU: 642

 
CNN´s Anderson Cooper reports.

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"Taliban commander's capture called biggest since 9/11"

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/02/16/taliban.commander.captured/index.html

"Talibans 2nd-in-command nabbed in Pakistan"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35417489/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/


Secret Joint Raid Captures Taliban’s Top Commander


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.


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/world/asia/16intel.html