Senior Haqqani leader held in Afghanistan: NATO

[Devil Soul]

Senior Haqqani leader held in Afghanistan: NATO
By AFP
Published: October 1, 2011
KABUL: A senior Haqqani network commander in Afghanistan who is also the uncle of its leader has been captured in the war-torn country, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said Saturday.
“Security forces detained Haji Mali Khan, uncle of Siraj and Badruddin Haqqani and the senior Haqqani commander in Afghanistan,” ISAF said in a statement, adding he was captured in southeast Afghanistan Tuesday.
The announcement came as the United States puts increasing pressure on Pakistan to take action against the Haqqani network, a Taliban-allied insurgent group blamed by officials for many attacks in the Afghan capital Kabul.
Khan was captured close to Afghanistan’s porous border with Pakistan in Paktiya province.
“He reportedly worked directly under Siraj Haqqani, and managed bases and had oversight of operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan,” ISAF said.
“Mali Khan moved forces from Pakistan to Afghanistan to conduct terrorist activity. Jalaluddin Haqqani consistently placed Mali Khan in positions of high importance.”
A spokesman for Afghanistan’s intelligence agency the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Lutfullah Mashal, confirmed the capture but gave different details of his relationship with the network’s leader.
“We know that he is a member of Sirajuddin Haqqani’s family but we are not sure if he is the immediate cousin. He is maybe the cousin of Sirajuddin Haqqani’s cousin,” he said.
“I am not sure if he was really an active Haqqani commander,” he added, referring media queries back to ISAF.
Last week, retiring chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen accused Pakistan of exporting violence to Afghanistan through proxies.
He also charged that the Haqqani network, whose leadership is based in Pakistan’s border regions, was a “veritable arm” of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI).
In an interview Friday, President Barack Obama did not endorse Mullen’s accusations but said Pakistan “have got to take care of this problem”.
The Haqqani network was founded by Jalaluddin Haqqani, a warlord who made his name during the 1980s jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan, when he received funding from Pakistan and the CIA.
Haqqani is a member of the Taliban’s supreme council but his son Sirajuddin now effectively runs the network.
Read more: haqqani-network

 

[Imran Khan]

what the hell he was doing in afghanistan he should stay with his network in NW

 

[Patriot]

Admittedly, Haqqani’s are in North Waziristan, yet capture of Haji Mali from Paktia unambiguously demonstrates that so-called Haqqani network has strong bases and presence in Afghanistan which frustrated Mullen could not see and could not locate to handle. Not accepting their own failure and incompetence and entering into blame- game by Chief of USA forces is sheer degradation and does not suit to a super power.

 

[President Camacho]

A senior Haqqani network commander in Afghanistan who is also the uncle of its leader has been captured in the war-torn country, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said Saturday.

“He reportedly worked directly under Siraj Haqqani, and managed bases and had oversight of operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan,” ISAF said.

And then...

“I am not sure if he was really an active Haqqani commander,”

________

Uncle of Sirajuddin, as well as of Jalaluddin? Must be some big time uncle.

 

[Imran Khan]

 

[Ahmad Shah Abdali]

Admittedly, Haqqani’s are in North Waziristan, yet capture of Haji Mali from Paktia unambiguously demonstrates that so-called Haqqani network has strong bases and presence in Afghanistan which frustrated Mullen could not see and could not locate to handle. Not accepting their own failure and incompetence and entering into blame- game by Chief of USA forces is sheer degradation and does not suit to a super power.

I fail to understand how the capture of a single leader negates the fact that they are training camps across the border in NW? These guys have a free hand in NW, they get trained there and then simply cross over the border and conduct terrorist attacks. It's something that not only the international community believes in but also your own pakistanis.
[video]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15134305[/video]